


Lucifer - Lightbringer

by Pandorakiin



Series: Lucifer [5]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Adorable, CAUTION: IMAGES OF SELF HARM, Cute, Deckerstar Honeymooning, Emotionally Challenging, F/M, Family being Family, Fear, Profanity, Romance, SEE WARNING IN SUMMARY BEFORE READING, Series-Ending Content, Spoilers, Ultimate Showdown Of Ultimate Destiny, sexual mischief
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:00:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandorakiin/pseuds/Pandorakiin
Summary: 3 NEW CHAPTERS POSTED: 09.12.2020!!! :)A pandemic is sweeping the globe. Lucifer and Chloe have found their ‘new normal’ on the home front & in regards to what’s happening in the world around them.But something “epic” is coming and it’s coming for our very souls.Love. Loss. Salvation. Damnation. Oblivion. Redemption. Revelation.The Prince of Darkness will have to put it all on the line if he’s to have any hope of overcoming the greatest threat Earth, Heaven & Hell has ever seen. With his great love’s world burning down around him, can The Devil find it in himself rise to the occasion?WARNING: Contains disturbing imagery. While used as responsibly as such a thing could be, this work contains one instance where SELF-HARM is depicted. There are also two scenes, one less severe than the other, where NON-CONSENSUAL SEXUAL VIOLENCE is portrayed. Again, I hope I've handled these as responsibly as any storyteller can. They would not be present if they did not serve to establish something critical about one or more characters. If you suffer from depression, exercise caution when choosing to read this work.
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar, Daniel Espinoza / Charlotte Richards, Eve/Mazikeen (Lucifer TV)
Series: Lucifer [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988668
Comments: 36
Kudos: 56
Collections: Favourite Lucifer Fics, Lucifer, Lucifer and Chloe, The Archangel Lucifer





	1. Timeline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A.K.A Table of Contents

A pandemic is sweeping across the globe. Lucifer and Chloe have settled into their ‘new normal’ on the home front and in regards to what’s happening in the world around them.

But something “epic” is coming and it’s coming for our very souls.

Love. Loss. Salvation. Damnation. Oblivion. Redemption. Revelation.

The Prince of Darkness will have to put it all on the line if he’s to have any hope of overcoming the single greatest threat Earth, Heaven and Hell has ever seen. With his great love’s world burning down around him, _can_ The Devil find it in himself rise to the occasion?

*

“The child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”

\- African Proverb

*

Author's Note: I sincerely suggest reading these works of 'Lucifer' fiction in order as laid out below. The first four parts introduce you to the kind of story that will be told over the course of 'Part 4: Lightbringer' and establish a handful of fairly critical adjustments to the characters as they exist in the Netflix series. 

TIMELINE

[When Hell Freezes Over](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509564/chapters/70560750)

(One-Shot Compilation)

*

_[Part 1: The Morning After](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214489) _

_[Part 2: What's Mine is Yours](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988214) _

_[Part 3: Leather & Lace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371656/chapters/66887485) _

*

[ _Daniel_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/68284801#workskin)

[ _Our Hands_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/68285299#workskin)

[ _Captive_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/68285647#workskin)

[ _Code Blue_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/68527968)

[ _Say What You Need to Say_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/68529012)

*

[ _Original Sin_ ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/68529414)

*

_Yes or No_

_Not Something I'd Normally Brag About_

_Beauty In The Beast_

_Really Really_

_More Like Rules Than Actual Guidelines_

*

_The Ol’ 9 to 5_

_A Little Extra Activity_

_M.I.Angel_

_Two Minds_

_#TeamLucifer_

_Hell on Earth... Sort Of_

_Miss Trixie_

_Resident Evil_

_The Evil Within_

_Uninvited_

_Something Worth Fighting For_

_The Lilim_

_Into Darkness_

_Lost and Found_

_Meanwhile: At Lux_

_Meanwhile: Down By The Boardwalk_

_Brother Dearest_

_Judgement Day_

_The Cold Water_

_The Aftermath_

_Afterword_

_*_

Season 5 was the Lucifer cast & crew's love letter to us & this is MY farewell love letter to Lucifer & Co. I truly love them for everything that they can teach us if we take the time to let them. I've planned to release 2 chapters (give or take) per week until the story is complete. Please, bookmark the work so you won't miss the EPIC conclusion!


	2. Daniel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Word arrives at the precinct regarding what's happened...

Unable to locate Detective Espinoza, out of leads and at a loss for ideas, Lucifer headed for the lab. There was a brain there he needed to pick. Michael wasn’t just good at needling people with their own fears, he enjoyed it. The thought of him free to use Chloe as a pin-cushion for his sick entertainments... he had never hated his twin brother, but he was beginning to. Forcefully shoving the thought out of his mind, he composed himself and walked in on Ella hanging up a phone call. Her back was toward him and her hand was shaking.

Frowning, he asked, “Something wrong, Miss Lopez?” She turned toward him, eyes watering. She put down the phone and crossed the lab floor. Colliding with him, she wrapped her arms around him. Shaking, she started to cry.

Viscerally fearing Chloe had been _found_ , wide-eyed and trembling slightly, Lucifer forced himself to ask the question, “What’s happened?”

*

Two police guards stood stationed outside Dan’s ICU room. Lucifer nearly skidded to a halt in the hall outside, his breathing heavy. His palms went to his temples as his expression twisted in both sadness and anger. On the other side of the window, Dan was laid out attached to suspension harnesses. There were pins and metal braces _everywhere_. His neck was braced. What little of his skin that wasn’t bruised and misshapen, was deathly pale. He stood a better chance of dying than ever speaking again. Every muscle taut from head to toe, Lucifer stood rooted in place, quivering, enraged as he’d never been before. These injuries were Michael’s doing. Wrenching himself away from the sight of Dan’s horrific condition, Lucifer found a deserted hallway.

Taking hold of the waist height metal grab bar mounted on the wall with a shaking hand, he squeezed, putting his other fist inches deep into the concrete wall. His blinding fury had him wound so tightly he hardly uttered a sound, even though he tried to scream. Letting his forehead rest against the wall, he forced himself to breathe. His expression relaxed in pieces. Closing his eyes for a moment, he stepped back, holding his shaking hands up before him. They trembled as much from rage as from fear.

He was at his wits end. Even with all of his God-given gifts and supernatural strengths exactly where and as they should be, he was powerless to help or protect those he loved. Calling Daniel Espinoza someone he ‘loved’ was going a bit far, but... he felt obligated to him nonetheless. His hands gradually became steady again. As he took in a breath, a potent sickness took hold of his gut. With one hand on his hip and two fingers pressed to the centre of his forehead, Lucifer slowly walked back toward the main hall. He composed himself just shy of coming into the view field of the sentries outside Dan’s room.

Lucifer approached and one of the guards put their forearm in front of him when he tried to enter the room. “I’m sorry, sir. No one is allowed inside. Lieutenant’s orders. His condition is too... delicate.”

“You don’t say? I assumed the six-inch pins sticking out of him were some kind of decorative apparel.” Regretting the sarcasm, Lucifer looked forward, away from the guard’s critical glare, taking in a steadying breath. With an unmistakeable genuineness in his voice, he entreated the guard, “I am trying to find and punish the person who did this to him. And I may be the only familiar voice he hears before the end. A few minutes, Officer. That’s all I ask.” Glancing at the other guard, the officer withdrew his arm, nodding. “Thank you.”

Stepping quietly inside, Lucifer helped the door close gently behind him. He approached Dan’s bedside reaching out to rest a hand on his arm, withdrawing it when only inches away. Until now, Lucifer had kept the thought of what Michael might be saying to poison his relationship with Chloe out of his mind. He recalled Chloe saying once that Michael had seemed taken with her at first. It now occurred to him what he might be _doing_ to her. Leaning on and taking hold of the bedrail with both hands, Lucifer thought the unthinkable. The sickness in his gut was roiling. He had a firm idea of where he’d find Dan’s soul if he died. Somewhere he’d have plenty of time to talk. Lucifer turned and closed the window blinds. He reached for the life support’s power plug, a wearing a resigned expression, eyes watering, hand trembling.

'Lucifer Morningstar' the earthly owner/operator of Lux would go down for murder. He would be persona non-grata at the LAPD. If he ever found Chloe, she would resent if not outright despise him for doing what he was about to do, but she would be alive and safe. Trixie...

Lucifer froze. Trixie would lose her father. A sob welled up from his heart but his throat was too closed for it to escape. He couldn’t do it. Even with Chloe’s life at stake, he couldn’t pull the plug. Daniel didn’t _deserve_ this fate and it wasn’t his place to choose when or how he met his end. Bringing his wayward hand back to the bedrail, Lucifer bent forward and began to cry unreservedly, his tears falling onto Daniel’s hand, wrist and the sheets below. Noticing his grip was cracking the bedrail, he forced himself to open his fingers holding them out pin-straight, shaking and taking in short ragged breaths. He and Dan may have had their differences, but he wasn’t a bad person. He was just lost. In that way, Lucifer realized, they weren’t so different.

Slowly, he began to feel, alongside the hopelessness he felt at being unable to find Chloe, gratitude for the fact that he wasn’t capable of doing what he had just considered doing.

Ella’s jubilant voice suddenly intruded on his thoughts. He could see her in his mind’s eye flitting excitedly around the lab as she spoke. _The dead might not be able to talk, but, man, they’re still awesome storytellers!_

Lucifer’s eyes went wide as the pieces of the logical puzzle in front of him started falling into place. If the dead could be so talkative, surely the not-yet-departed could be equally informative. _Dan_ might not be able to tell him where he’d been, but trace evidence on his clothing and footwear very possibly _could_. Lucifer smiled and began to rejoicing laugh with tears still in his eyes, looking heavenward. He took in a few steadying breaths. So far, all Dan had heard from him at his beside was him crying and laughing like a mad person. He addressed him, and to his surprise, the right thing to say came out.

“Daniel... Chloe’s missing, very probably kidnapped by my brother - Michael. We’re going to find her. When I get back with her, you need to be here. And that little scamp of yours _needs_ her father. So, _please_ , don’t go anywhere just yet.” Lucifer’s smile was subdued, but obviously there. He opened the blinds again and rushed out of the room. He was on his phone before he’d taken two steps.

“Miss Lopez, has the evidence from Daniel’s crime scene arrived?” The optimistic tone in his voice shook Ella out of the funk she was in, with so much around them going to Hell all at once.

“It’s coming in now. Why...?”

“Something on his clothing, or maybe his shoes might tell us where he’s recently been,” Lucifer said, the glint in his eye signalling the hunt was on.

“Oh my God. Oh my _God!_ I’m on it, Lucifer. All over it.”

Lucifer smiled. “That’s my girl.”

“I’ll need comparison samples from places we know he’d normally go,” Ella said, back in fight mode.

“Do you have sample containers there?”

“Yeah. Why? For what?”

Laughing, Lucifer responded, “A crash course on how to collect what you need.”

Astonished, Ella stammered, “I, uh, I... okay. Okay!”

Finding a corner outside the building free from prying eyes, Lucifer flew off.

*


	3. Our Hands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My hands, they are my own and I will never be broken...

Returning to the precinct with the samples as quickly as his wings could carry him, Lucifer gave them over into Ella’s care. With that done, there was nothing – _nothing_ to do – but wait. Seating himself at Chloe’s desk, he started pouring over it. A tear-away desk calendar with some old wisdom quotes on it. She’d saved some of her favourites. A school photo of Trixie. Her mug, lip color still on it. He picked up the rounded mug, cradling it in both hands. Circling his thumb over the lip mark he suddenly felt as if he was holding _her_ in the palms of his hands...

Snapping himself out of it, he quickly put the mug down. Getting a grip on his ill-at-ease, his gaze fell on Trixie’s picture. With her parents missing or... out of commission, where was she? Worse still, could Michael be after her as well?

*

Lucifer pulled into two open parking spaces at Trixie’s school, leaving short tire marks on the pavement. He rushed through the doors past the front office.

“Sir! Excuse me! Sign in, please?” the secretary seated there called out. Lucifer stopped. He’d seen the signs but read none. The halls were conspicuously empty.

“Of course,” he said, walking back picking up a pen beside the clipboard. “Can you tell me where I might find Beatrice Espinoza?” The final flair of his last name completed, he set down the pen.

“Lucifer!” Trixie came running up behind Lucifer, latching onto his hip.

“Classes let out over an hour ago,” the secretary stated, disapproval plain in her voice.

“Uh... who was supposed to pick you up, small... one?” Lucifer asked, aware of how awkward it sounded.

‘My dad,” she answered, beaming.

“And you are, sir?”

“Her mother’s partner. Lucifer Morningstar,” he replied extending a hand. “Pleasure to meet you.”

The secretary shook it. “Her partner?”

“Yes. We work together,” Lucifer clarified. The secretary nodded.

“Where was your father taking you after school, today, Beatrice?” Lucifer asked, looking down on Trixie, his hands still up in the air.

Trixie’s expression turned slightly toward displeasure. “It’s Trixie, Lucifer.”

“I... yes. I apologize.” 

“He was going to drop me off at Grandma’s.”

“Good. Let’s... get you there then, shall we?” Lucifer asked, his nerves fraying. It was going to be a long trip and questions were inevitable.

“’Kay!” Trixie tweeted, smiling once again and making a dash for the front doors. Sparing a moment for a courteous nod to the school secretary, Lucifer was right on her heels.

*

The ride to her grandmother’s house had been nerve-wracking and it showed on his face. If she had asked about her parents, he wouldn’t have been able to lie. Penelope Decker answered her door, eyes going wide in surprise at seeing Lucifer on her doorstep with her granddaughter.

“Lucifer...” she said, her confusion obvious. She turned her attention to Trixie. “Hi, honey. Come on in.” Trix dashed in, shedding her shoes and skipping over to the living room coffee table and opening up her backpack.

Penelope’s voice was low when she asked, “Not that it isn’t nice to see you again, Lucifer, but where’s Dan?”

“Step outside with me?” Lucifer asked. She agreed, following him out and partially closing the door behind her. He closed it all the way.

When he had finished relaying what was going on, Penelope was reeling.

“Oh, God,” she breathed. For perhaps the first time in his life, Lucifer didn’t feel so much as an urge to respond the mention of his Dad’s name. 

“We have a reasonably strong lead as to where Chloe might be. We’re just waiting on lab results,” Lucifer explained, trying to cheer her up by resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“I have no doubt you’re doing everything you can to find her,” Penelope said, placing a reassuring hand on Lucifer’s forearm.

“Yes. Well, at the moment, _nothing_ is what I _am_ doing.” Lucifer said, rubbing his brow with his forefingers and unable to help berating himself.

Penelope took Lucifer by the hand. “I know you would move Heaven, Earth _and_ Hell for my daughter. Still, sometimes it doesn’t matter how rich, or powerful or smart or clever you are. Things are just... out of _our_ hands. But you know something? I trust the hands they _are_ in,” she said comfortingly. Though grateful for the vote of confidence, Lucifer’s smile was half-hearted. She was, of course, referring to God hands but, in a way, she was still right. The evidence he needed was in Ella Lopez’s capable hands and, at this moment, he trusted them better than anyone’s.

*


	4. Captive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whatever happened to this young man's heart? Swallowed by pain... as he slowly fell apart...

The sound of the metal bars of the cage’s door creaking open and clanging shut heralded the arrival of her captor – Michael. She abandoned chipping away at the loose rock around the anchor point of one of the perpendicular bars that blocked her way out of another egress from the manufactured cave. She moved away from the window to avoid betraying her plan. He came into view carrying a cup of coffee. Chloe held her ground despite the overwhelming urge to back away from him. The look on his face was nothing short of predatory. Chloe had the distinct impression she was just the snack a great white shark was toying with before the main course – his brother.

“Something to take the edge off. Just the way you like it,” Michael said, holding the made-to-order drink out to her. She hadn’t had anything to eat or drink in far too long. Chloe accepted the coffee, taking a sip. Just the right temperature and exactly as she liked it – tall non-fat almond milk latte with sugar-free caramel drizzle. A fear seized Chloe’s heart. She dropped the cup, splattering the drink on the cave floor. The scent of her favourite drink permeated the cave and being unable to drink anything in its presence was maddening.

“Hmm. A needless waste of seven dollars. It wasn’t poisoned.”

“You sadistic–“

“Sticks and stones, Detective,” Michael cautioned her, his voice raised. “And, well, not even those.” Michael stood silent, taking in her reaction.

“What am I doing here, Michael?” Chloe demanded, barely managing to keep her voice steady.

“You’re part of a bigger plan. Don’t worry. I won’t spoil the ending for you,” Michael said, finding a place to casually lean back against the wall.

“Then why _are_ you here?” Chloe asked, a sickness starting to upset her stomach.

“That, Detective, is the right question,” Michael began, pushing himself away from the wall with his good shoulder and closing in on her. “Quite a bit has happened since the last time we saw each other. I thought it might be nice...” Michael reached up to move a wayward strand of hair aside from her eyes. “to catch up.” The sickness in her stomach became full-on nausea. What Michael wanted was _not_ to ‘catch up’ and she refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her back away or cower. Michael’s fingertips had travelled from her brow, down her cheek and neck, coming to rest on the runoff to her shoulder, his thumb sitting heavily on her throat beneath her Adam’s apple. The pressure was enough to force her to clear her throat in order to breathe and she was forced to inch backward.

“What do you _want_ , Michael?” Chloe asked, done with being toyed with. If he was going to do what he seemed to intend... get it over with.

A snarl shattered Michael’s placid expression the instant before he took her by the neck and brutally slammed her into the wall. “In short, _vengeance_.” A fearful but stifled cry escaped her involuntarily. He held her up enough that even on her toe tips, the ground was just out of reach. Chloe took hold of Michael’s forearm with both hands, lifting herself enough to take the downward pressure off her neck and lashed out with two _savage_ kicks to the groin. Michael’s laughter was vicious. Bullets couldn’t hurt him and she thought that somehow _that_ was going to be effective.

His laughter interwoven with his words, Michael snarled, “I’ll never understand what my brother sees in you. What, exactly, do you think you’re doing?”

“Looking for the off switch,” Chloe spat back, enraged.

“Ironically, what you’ve _found_ , is the ‘on’ button. If you’re fighting that means you’re genuinely, truly _afraid_. From what I hear, fear enhances the experience.” Michael’s tone had dropped to something nearly as sinister as his brother’s dark side. “For all our differences, my brother and I are alike in some ways. Open yourself up to the idea, _Chloe_. You just might get something out of it.”

“No. I won’t. As similar as you look, you’re not the same. And I’m not just talking about the scar.”

“Hmm. Your call.” Michael said, throwing her to the floor as one might a crumpled-up piece of paper, proceeding to remove his jacket, shirt and belt. The top of the shoulder blade on the side he favoured bore sizeable, angry, purple-black scar. Chloe stayed where she was relatively unmoving. Hands pocketed, Michael hooked the toe of his shoe under one ankle then the other, pushing each of her legs out to the sides with a flick of his foot. Kneeling over her, he pinned her wrists over her head with one hand. She knew perfectly well there was no way to escape. Her bones would break before she could wrest herself free if she fought as violently as she wanted to. She couldn’t outrun someone who could fly even if she did get loose. Fighting back against someone strong enough to rip her arms and legs off with his bare hands was out of the question. The only thing left to hope to achieve was survival. 

“There’s one thing I’ve been wondering. How did you know I wasn’t my brother so quickly?”

Chloe met his gaze and responded venomously. “He doesn’t make my skin crawl. You _always did_.” Michael responded by pulling her into a forced kiss and letting his full weight rest on her at the hip. Chloe shut down. Brought her shields up, tucking her self and everything about Lucifer she could manage to collect, away somewhere fortified inside her.

When Michael was finished with kissing her, Chloe spoke. “No matter what you _do_ to me, Michael, I’m not letting you anywhere near me and Lucifer,” Chloe said, both fury and sadness ruling over her voice. Between her and Lucifer, it certainly wasn’t she who was the libertine. Now, even if it was against her will, it was _her_ who would end up being unfaithful. Michael moved his hip against her, growing stiffer as he did and tears began falling down the side of her face toward her ears, her expression becoming vacant. Having consciously closed down nearly everything else, there was one thing she couldn’t prevent: the way she involuntarily squirmed away from him wherever he touched her. With Michael busy elsewhere, she let her head fall to the side, looking away and retreating into herself as far from the sensation of what he was doing as she could.

Michael looked up to see the tears that had run from her eyes into her hairline. He brought his free hand up and smoothed them down, running his thumb from the corner of her eye to where the trails disappeared into her hair. A satisfied smile found its way onto his lips.

With that, his brother’s favourite toy was broken. Placing a parting kiss on her jaw, Michael withdrew. Collecting his shed clothing from a rock by the window he stepped over Chloe and put himself back together before leaving and locking the cage behind him. From outside the door Michael left her with one last thought, his laughter subdued as he said it.

“What’s coming, _Detective_ , is going to be... _epic_.”

*

Unable to remain at the house for fear of questions he might have to answer, Lucifer had hunkered down on the roof of an apartment building nearby Mama Decker’s. The only reason he’d so much as blinked the entire time he spent watching over the house was to check his phone for a text from Ella. A metallic chime sounded from his pocket.

Taking it out, Lucifer took a relieved breath in as he read three magical words: _Results are in_.

*

Lucifer swung open the lab door moving at full tilt. If, for whatever reason, it hadn’t opened as expected he’d have wound up walking clean through it instead.

“I could use some good news, right now, Miss Lopez,” Lucifer said, very obviously winded and strung out.

“Our samples jumped the queue in light of the fact that they’re for an active missing persons case and we’re still, barely, inside two days missing. So, a bit of luck there,” Ella said smiling as she looked over the results. A quick laugh and a strained smile showed up momentarily on Lucifer’s face. “The dirt matched all of the samples you brought in but there were some pieces that proved completely different from anything you collected. So... let’s see what was in there.” She quickly scanned three pages or so of the report. “Looks like there was animal hair... exotic felines. Genus still non-specific. These results are just preliminary. Hay... animal excrement based on the nitrogen levels... so, we’re looking for an animal sanctuary or a zoo... or a barn slash pen of a private collector on private property. That’s a start but it’s still way too damn many sites to search.” Ella sighed. “Okay, what would he _need_ out of a place he chose to hide her?”

It made Lucifer sick to his stomach to step inside his brother’s head to try to plan out how to isolate Chloe. “Somewhere she couldn’t be heard if she was in distress. He’d have to be able to come and go, certain she’d never be found. Somewhere constructed well enough to hold even the smartest animal on the planet captive.” Ella raised an eyebrow Lucifer’s way. Hearing him dissociate like that was frightening, but he wasn’t wrong. “Somewhere he could come and go without being seen himself. It would have to be isolated or deserted... somewhere she wouldn’t be at risk of dying before I found her.”

“Wait. Someone’s doing this to get at you?!”

“It seems that way, Miss Lopez.”

“All right, man, _look_ : if you are into some shady shit that’s gotten my girl kidnapped, I am gonna kick your ass up and down the fucking precinct once she’s safe and sound. I don’t give two shits how... _tall_ you are. The bigger they are the harder they fall,” Ella threatened, advancing on him with an accusing finger pointed his way.

Taken badly aback, Lucifer frowned putting his hands up to indicate innocence. “No... no. Ella, it’s nothing like that. You have my word,” he said, injury plain in his voice.

Ella settled herself down quite a few notches and took an unsteady breath in. There were tears welling in her eyes. Nodding, she decided believed him. “It better not be. I... uh... I’m sorry, it’s just... been stressful, you know? That was _way_ out of line. I’m really sorry.”

Lucifer half smiled and nodded. “It’s all right, Miss Lopez. No harm done. But, if we could focus on what matters...” Nodding and doing her best to smile, Ella opened up the results file again looking for something that might give them more to go on as to what the place was like. At that moment the thought occurred to Lucifer: Maze.

The phone hardly had time to ring once before Maze picked up. “You got something?”

“We do. We think it’s a zoo, barn, animal sanctuary or a private collector’s pen for an exotic cat. Somewhere isolated, little or no human foot traffic. Somewhere that would be guaranteed to keep someone as smart as Chloe trapped.”

“That rules out places with flimsy wire and mesh cages. It’s still not narrow enough, but it’s better than ‘search all of LA’. I’ll see what I can do,” Maze promised.

“Thank you, Maze,” Lucifer said gratefully, hanging up the call. While they’d been speaking Ella had dropped the report beside her PC terminal and begun frantically scrambling for information.

“What is it, Miss Lopez?” Lucifer asked.

Ella grimaced momentarily trying to wrangle the myriad bits of theory running around in her head into a coherent answer. “The inorganic and organic nitrogen compounds in animal excrement decay at fairly predictable rates and if I can find a baseline reference for what they should be, I can do some math and that will tell us how long ago the animals in question... did their business.”

“Why would that–?”

“Because all the compounds to indicate animal excrement are there but they’re dry as a bone. Whatever he stepped in wasn’t _fresh_ ,” she explained excitedly.

“Well, well, for once...” Lucifer bit down hard on the ‘Detective Douche’ that about to leave his mouth. He was fairly certain that marked the official retirement of the moniker. “For once, Daniel, stepping in it was the exact right thing to do. Bully for you.”

“Oh my God,” Ella backed away from her keyboard, hands out to the side, expression alight.

“Ella...?” Lucifer pressed, adjusting himself in his seat and leaning forward.

“Even with allowing for inaccuracy in the underlying values, whatever Dan stepped in is anywhere from five to eight months old! It’s _abandoned_ ,” Ella emphasized. Lucifer jumped up from his seat and placed a grateful kiss on her cheek.

“Text me if you find out anything else. I’m going to join Maze,” Lucifer said, heading for the door.

“I’ll have a look online and see if I can narrow it down.”

“I have a feeling you will,” he said as he passed through the door.

*

Chloe started fearfully from the sound the metal gate made when Michael opened it: it sounded like he was angry enough to rip it open. He was coming, in that state of mind, looking for her. Chloe shrunk back into the shadows. She’d only been able to get one bar out of the cage window. Not enough to squeeze out.

Seven straight years of playing hardball in her younger years was about to come in handy. Michael stormed in, dressed like Lucifer again. As he desperately looked over the empty space before him at a loss, she took two quick, silent steps out into the open and swung like she was trying to break the metal bar in her hands in half over his head. As he went to his knees and pitched over forward, Chloe sprinted for the gate. Lucifer caught himself with one hand on one of the window’s remaining metal bars.

Chloe rounded the bend and saw he hadn’t just ripped the gate open. He’d torn it clean off its frame and thrown it into the brush on the other side of the path outside. If he got his hands on her she was done for. She started driving herself to move even faster. Maze and Chloe nearly collided as Maze caught up with a panicked Lucifer.

“ _Maze_!?” Chloe demanded, reeling.

“Yeah! Where’s–”

“Lucifer!” Chloe shouted, breathlessly, reversing direction inside of two steps and running back into the cave. Lucifer came out of the offshoot tunnel, bringing his hand away from the back of his head as he did. Chloe short-stepped to a halt in front of him.

Showing her his blood-free open hand, he smiled warmly. “That’s a pretty mighty swing you’ve got there.”

“I’m so sorry! I thought you were Michael!” Laughing with her eyes starting to water up, Chloe needed nothing at that moment more than the kiss she pulled him into. Lucifer hadn’t ever been more content to lose himself in a kiss. A subdued, pleasure-induced grunt sounded in his throat. It had never felt so good to simply hold someone close in his life. Maze walked in behind the two. Watching as the two moved into an embrace they didn’t look like they wanted to let go of anytime soon, she smiled. At least she did at first, but a sudden twist of sadness affected her expression. She walked back out of the cave, leaning back against the wall outside to wait the lovers out.

“If it’s what you need, Chloe, you can give me a good whack anytime,” Lucifer said, pinching his lower lip between his teeth. She started laughing again, mixing a few overjoyed tears in for good measure.

Maze’s lip twisted into a momentary snarl. Chloe had hit him with a blow that would have killed anyone else and he just shrugged it off like it was a playful tap on the head. _They really are fucking soulmates_ , she thought bitterly. Something the soulless could never hope to experience. Now sickeningly infuriated, Maze left the two behind.

Chloe and Lucifer came out of the cave, each with one arm around the other. Confused, Lucifer quickly turned about with Mazikeen nowhere to be seen.

“ _Maze_?” Chloe called out. “We’ve got to find her. If Michael has her...”

Lucifer grimaced and put his forehead into his palm, rubbing the tension out of his brow for a moment. “We can’t worry about Mazikeen right now. She... she can take care of herself. There’s something...” Lucifer trailed off unable to finish what he was saying without his voice breaking sadly. Chloe frowned. Something was very wrong.

“What is it...?” Chloe asked, fear plain in her voice.

A pained look took over Lucifer’s face as he looked heavenward. He closed his eyes before meeting her gaze again and forcing himself to say it. “It’s Daniel. Michael nearly killed him. He’s in the ICU at the hospital. We need to...”

“Get there. Now. Trixie...!” Chloe said, instinctively wanting to have her there.

“Don’t... no... don’t bring her. Someone that young shouldn’t have to see... It’s _that_ bad,” Lucifer said still having difficulty even saying it.

“ _What_?!”

Lucifer nodded. He reached out the moment her eyes glazed over, thinking he was going to have to catch her. Chloe wove but didn’t fall.

“I’m... I’m _not okay_ but I’ll be fine. Can we take a cab? Another hit of adrenaline from flying and I might actually pass out in transit.”

He nodded, smiling briefly in spite of the sadness on his face. It would cost them time Daniel very probably didn’t have but, there was no other choice. “Keep an arm around me and hang on, all right? I need to know if you are going to go down.” Chloe nodded and did as he asked. Lucifer got his phone out and called for a cab as the two made for the abandoned zoo’s parking lot speed-walking.

*


	5. Code Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” - Abraham Lincoln

Almost at a run moving down the hallway, Lucifer was beginning to unconsciously pull ahead of and away from Chloe in his haste to get back to Dan’s room. Her phone rang and she slowed to answer it, thinking it might have to do with Dan or Trix. She didn’t let go of Lucifer until their arms were outstretched, almost parallel to the ground. The ICU was relatively empty of staff given the late hour and the lights were down low. He frowned. The guards outside the room were gone. Lucifer stopped on a dime, going wide-eyed as he laid eyes on the contents of Dan’s windowed room – nothing. No one. Not even a bed. The lights were out.

Lucifer surged back toward Chloe, putting an arm up to stop her. There was an instant of anger on her face as she pushed his arm out the way and nearly bounced off him as she turned on the ball of one foot and carried on past him. Lucifer managed to hold on to one of her wrists before she came to a sudden stop. It was torturous to watch as the realization that her daughter’s father was gone sank in. Chloe was shaking and beginning to sob. The two walked into each other and latched on for dear life. 

Holding her close with one hand on the back of her head, Lucifer rested his chin on the crown of her head. His otherwise serene expression was occasionally marred by twitches of anger and heartbreak. Tears were flowing freely.

Her tone was devastatingly broken and Chloe barely managed to force the words out of her throat, “Oh God...”

When Lucifer spoke, the rage in his voice, in addition to all else, was unmistakable. “If I ever get my hands on that _capital asshole_ , he’s in for a few slices of my mind in a knuckle sandwich.” Chloe tightened her grip on Lucifer realizing he literally wanted Dan gone as little as she did, even as a potent feeling of nausea took hold of her. Just a few moments passed before Chloe was tapping on his side and gently trying to push him away.

“Lucifer, let go... I’m going to be sick.” He felt her convulse involuntarily. Releasing her and snapping into action, Lucifer carefully backed her into the metal framed chair sitting in front of Dan’s room and dove at the nearest garbage can, bringing it back to her just as quickly. Keeping a hold of his hand, Chloe bent over and gagged. Again... and again. Lucifer stood over her with his other hand on the centre of her upper back, concern etched on his face. Nothing had come up. She hadn’t had anything to eat in far too long. There was nothing there to bring up. They stayed that way until Chloe started to find her way back to calm.

Eventually the two came down enough for Chloe to lean back and rest her head against the wall behind her. Lucifer faced the door looking into the room and stood, feet shoulder width apart, still holding one of Chloe’s hands in his own, with the other resting on his stomach. 

“If you’re not going to use that, I might have to borrow it. Consider yourself forewarned,” Lucifer said as a wave of nausea made him sway and had him dropping his eyelids. Her tear-streaked face expressionless, Chloe nodded and used her foot to move it a little more his way.

“How am I going to tell Trix?’ she whispered, letting her eyes close which prompted even more tears to fall. Lucifer leaned into the door, resting on his forehead on it and shaking his head.

“Even I have no idea.”

The return of a physician to the nearby station hardly registered for the two. She busied herself with filing the paperwork she’d been carrying and entering data from clipboards she’d been carrying. Five minutes or so went by and she started showing interest in the two visitors without a patient to visit.

“I’m sorry to disturb you, but, are you family...? Friends?”

Bringing herself around some, Chloe answered, “Uh... yeah. I’m sorry.” She took in a steadying breath and used her sleeve to wipe some of what was on her face away. “I’m Dan’s... ex-wife. And he’s...” Lucifer shot her a troubled look when her pause lasted longer then he liked. “Well... he’s mine.” The doctor raised an eyebrow, intrigued by the odd moniker but not tactless enough to ask about it.

“In that case...” The doctor paused, pondering for a few moments how to best go about explaining herself. “I’m sure you have a rough idea of what it takes to earn these letters behind my name, Detectives. So... when I tell you that his condition now compared to his condition when he came in, is a dead-to-rights _miracle_ , I mean every last letter of the word.”

Chloe instantly stood and Lucifer turned to her just as quickly. “What...?” Chloe demanded.

“Are you saying...” Lucifer started, trialing off as he used his own sleeve to quickly wipe tears from his face. The pair stood motionless as the doctor spoke.

“Not long after you left, Detective,” she began, referring to Lucifer, “he went into v-tach for a little under two minutes. Before they could finish an emergency ICD insertion – an implantable defibrillator – his heart stopped for about thirty seconds then started itself again. He leveled out more or less on his own. He’d been convulsing badly and his condition needed to be reassessed to determine the extent of the damage we expected, given all the bracing he was fighting against. What we found was the exact opposite. When he came in, he had a little over a dozen clean breaks throughout his body. His hip joint and some of the surrounding bone was shattered. He shouldn’t have lived to get to the hospital, never mind through the day. We conducted portable x-rays on every region we could and where there used to be completely separated breaks, we couldn’t find anything but hairline fractures. There’s still quite a bit of soft tissue damage, but nothing that won’t mend. We’ve non-invasively monitored brain activity and everything looks normal. With a few months of dedicated physical therapy, we expect a 95 – 99% recovery. He’s in surgery having the braces casts and pins removed. I can’t explain... _None of us_ can explain what...”

“You don’t have to, Doctor. It doesn’t matter.” Chloe started to laugh as she continued to speak. “We’re just _happy_ to still have him.” There was still water in her eyes but there were no longer tears. When she looked to Lucifer her expression shone with the very light of life. He subtly smiled. Though still breathing hard, Chloe was trying her best to keep from smiling like a little girl.

Lucifer and Chloe held each other close, overjoyed but completely at a loss to explain what had happened. _Had Amenadiel regained his abilities?_ Lucifer wondered. He tried a few times to speak but all that came out was a confused scoff. He closed his eyes and exhaled, resting his cheek on the crown of her head. Chloe was right. It didn’t matter. At least, not now.

The doctor smiled and turned to the nurse’s station counter. Scribbling a room number on the back of a pamphlet, she handed it to them. “Here. This will be his recovery room, once he’s out of surgery. Feel free to wait there.”

“Okay. We will. Thank you,” Chloe said, feeling both dazed and saturated by relief.

*

Having calmed themselves, freshened up and swung their collective mood down to mellow to compensate for the heightened emotional state they’d just spent far too long in, Lucifer and Chloe strolled the halls of the hospital, hand-in-hand, killing time until Dan came out of surgery.

“As redundant as this is coming from me: I’m not going to lie, you hesitating like that when she asked about us gave my stomach a turn,” Lucifer said, bringing a hand to his abdomen, looking to Chloe with pursed lips and a dash of sadness on his face.

“I’m sorry. I...” Chloe started, stopping herself for a moment where excuses were the only thing she could think of. She went from narrow to wide-eyed the moment she knew what to say, smiling. “I know what we have, Lucifer. I just have no idea what to call you. Nothing ‘normal’ applies. Calling you my boyfriend seems almost derogatory. My man? Mmm, no. That... might be even worse. Husband, spouse? No. Have to be married for that. Significant other... you’re one hell of a lot more than just significant. Lover? Yeah. Absolutely. A _great_ one, to boot. But not something I’m going to say at time like this. Partner? Well, I’m starting to feel like that belongs at the Precinct, out on scenes. Not in private, between us and the people we care about. What else is there? Better half?” Chloe let out a laugh looking his way. “Uhhh...”

Catching her gaze at first, before having a long, hard look at his own shoes, Lucifer grinned, responding, “You’re certainly my better half, but I’m not so sure myself that that goes both ways just yet. Working on it, though.”

“Yes, you are. Admirably.”

“‘Mine’, it is, then,” he said, looking to her with a satisfied, if a bit wistful grin on.

“So, how does this go? ‘Hi, Auntie Barb! This is Lucifer. He’s _mine_ ,’” Chloe said, trying it on for size, laughing.

“I’m rather liking the sound of that. No idea who I’d have to introduce you to, but... ‘Hello, so-and-so. Allow me to introduce the two of you. Meet Chloe. She’s mine.”

Chloe laughed and started to say: “Call me nuts, but somehow, that feels–”

“Just right,” finished the two, in perfect unison.

*

Dan had been awake for a little bit now, and he was beginning to get his bearings.

“You saved my life, didn’t you?” He couldn’t lift his head to see Lucifer but he knew he was there regardless.

Lucifer stepped up to his bedside, smiling, his thumbs hooked into his pockets. “Lacking any other explanation, Daniel, that appears to be the case. Yes.”

“I’m never gonna live that down, am I?” Dan asked, chuckling weakly.

Lucifer’s laughter and smile were as mischievously devilish as they could get. “Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Asshole.”

“As much as I’d like to, I can’t argue with that. Welcome back, Daniel,” Lucifer said, respectfully nodding in his direction and going to seat himself again.

Trixie chimed in. “Mommy?”

“Yes, monkey?”

“Daddy needs a bad word jar.” Dan’s amused scoff didn’t cost him an amount of pain he wasn’t willing to suffer for it. Laughter really was the best medicine for the soul. Lucifer and Chloe were laughing right along with him.

“If that’s really necessary and given circumstances, your Daddy’s bad words are on the house,” Lucifer declared, reaching into his jacket pocket for his wallet.

“That’s not how this works, Lucifer,” Trixie reminded him.

“No, it isn’t, but I think in this case, we can make an exception,” Chloe said, grinning and laughing.

“But I thought you said there’s never any reason to use bad words.”

Chloe’s brow furled thoughtfully. “Hmm. I may have been wrong about that. Sometimes... bad words help us get bad feelings out. Help us feel better when we feel really bad.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah it is. But the feelings have to be _really, really_ bad,” Chloe cautioned her daughter.

Trixie nodded enthusiastically, smiling all the while, in reply. There was a knock on the doorframe.

“Flower delivery for an... El Espinoza?”

“Ella?” Dan asked, delight obvious in his tone.

Ella peeked out from behind the flowers, a mischievous grin on. “Hey.”

“Very thoughtful of you, Miss Lopez.” Lucifer stood and accepted the flowers for Dan, bringing them to the bedside table on the far side of the bed. He rearranged the flowers there to ensure Ella’s sat nearest to Dan’s bedside.

Dan looked over the flowers and then back her way. “Thanks, Ella.”

There were no more seats in the room. “I’ll make some room, I think. Let you be a family,” Lucifer said, beginning making his way toward the door.

“Lucifer...” Dan began, waiting for his reply.

“Yes?”

“Stick around, man.” Lucifer laughed, nodding. Ella, smiling knowingly, immediately moved to borrow a chair from the hall for herself.

“Very well, Daniel. Seeing as it is _your_ get-well party, I suppose I have no business dictating the guest list.”

Returning with her found chair, Ella set herself up. “Wooow, dude. You look like Hell,” she observed good-naturedly, with a saddened but affectionate grin on.

Dan’s laughter was difficult but genuine. “Then I look ten times better than I feel,” he quipped, evoking subdued laughter and smiles from every soul in the room.


	6. Say What You Need To Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Walkin' like a one man army.  
> Fightin' with the shadows in your head.  
> Livin' up the same old moment,  
> Knowin' you'd be better off instead,  
> If you could only,  
> Say what you need to say." - John Mayer

Having arrived later on and seeing how drained the two were after the ordeal they’d been through, Penelope offered to have Trixie for the night. As intuitive a woman as any, she had the distinct impression a few things needed to be said. After saying their good-byes when visiting was done and Dan needed his rest more than anything, Chloe and Lucifer headed straight home.

With the lights inside down low, Lucifer made his way to the balcony with two drinks in hand. He handed Chloe one of them and they settled into leaning on the glass rail with their elbows, shoulder to shoulder. Though obviously glad of the proximity, Chloe was unusually silent. Turning to lean on the glass sideways and moving in closer, Lucifer rested a hand on her far hip. She jerked violently away from his touch. Taken badly aback, Lucifer instantly lifted his hand away holding it a few inches away from her.

“That’s... disturbingly familiar, Chloe. Are you hurt or have I–?”

“Bruises. Nothing that won’t heal,” Chloe said, interrupting him. She went straight back to standing there in silence.

“Then that was...”

Her voice shaky, Chloe responded, “Recoil. Yeah. As little as I like to admit it, Michael was right. You two do _look_ a lot alike. And I just... wasn’t here for a second.” Lucifer didn’t see it, but an angry, momentary snarl twisted one side of her lips.

“Chloe... _what did he do to you_? You swung for the fences at the zoo for a reason, didn’t you?” Lucifer demanded, but softly.

“The short version is: in spite of my best efforts, he managed to scare me,” Chloe said, her tone tinged with sadness and regret despite trying to remain strong.

“The long version being...?” Lucifer asked, wanting very much to hold her but until he knew more, hands-off was very probably the best policy.

Chloe let out a shallow breath of sadness, her expression twisting from the same. “I... uh... nnn,” was all she said, literally biting her lips closed and closing her eyes, sharply shaking her head, unwilling to say it. She let her chin fall to her chest.

Lucifer’s face went slack from shock and worry. Wide-eyed, he said, “I’m going to call Linda. Ask her to come over. I’ll... uh... I’ll go. Find somewhere else to stay for the night.” He set his glass down on the concrete floor, digging in his pocket for his phone and backing away a little more.

Tearless sobs upset the rhythm of Chloe’s voice as she spoke. “No. I’m... not talking to Linda right now. I will, eventually, and I think I have to ask you to let me go by myself when I do. Right now... what I _need_ to do is talk to you, and you’re not going to like it.” It was all she could do to keep her voice above a whisper.

“Of course, if you’re sure that’s what you need,” Lucifer said, his mind racing, grasping for what to do for her. Gesturing toward the couch and careful not to touch her when taking her drink from her shaking hand, he asked, “Have a seat for a minute... please?” Chloe nodded and walked inside, dropping herself onto the couch like her strings had been cut, holding up her head in her hands. The strength that had kept her going since being rescued seemed to have left her all in one breath.

Returning from the kitchen, Lucifer had his arms full. He went to the bed and set out the bottles of wine, glasses, bottles of water and snacks he was carrying on the shelf behind the headboard. Heading to a dresser drawer, he tossed a box of Kleenex back to the bed.

Chloe stood and wandered nearer as he did all this. As much from surprise as confusion, she asked, “ _Where’s_ all this coming from?”

Lucifer replied, his affectionate, lighthearted wit dialled all the way up, “Libations usually pair well with any long conversation, and well, these are the plain... tasteless, rice puffs you insist on having around. Easy on the stomach. And... water. As much as it pains me to dilute fine alcohol in the veins, last thing you need tomorrow morning is to wake up with a five-alarm headache. Don’t worry, I’ll make a point of sleeping on the couch.” He flashed her a charming smile.

Chloe’s expression turned to one of complete, wide-eyed amazement. She was laughing as she asked, “Since _when_...?”

Finding her look amusing, Lucifer’s laugh sounded at the very bottom of his natural register. Tucking his charm in his back pocket, he answered her. His tone abruptly full of potent regret, he pocketed his hands, slowly stepping down the stairs toward her. “It occurred to me recently, like a great many other things, that the time I spent in Hell listening to the damned, was only spent looking for ways to torture them or to understand why they torture themselves. I wonder if, perhaps, some of them _might_ have managed to forgive themselves and ascend by now, if I’d tried to be more of a caretaker to the damned, rather than just another torturer.” His last words came out a strained whisper with unbridled affection plain in his voice and on his face. “So, Chloe... I’m listening.”

Chloe felt the barrier she’d erected around her heart to protect herself, to protect _them_ , from Michael, crumble and fall. She couldn’t describe the feeling behind it as anything other than the brightest, warmest light she would ever see. It changed her breathing, left her eyes watering and had her laughing and smiling all at once. To Lucifer, she probably looked insane. And she did. Lucifer had seen enough crazy to recognize when someone looked about to break.

“Chloe?” he said, reaching for her cautiously, very, very worried.

She laughed shakily and closed on him, wrapping her arms around his neck, holding herself as close against him as she possibly could. She was tense and shaking. In shock, Lucifer remained unmoving, one arm slightly raised, the other at his side, not wanting to move in case he did the wrong thing.

Managing to speak through clenched teeth, with a voice from deep in her chest, she tightened her grip on him even more and replied, “ _Every time_ I think it’s not possible to love you more than I already do, you go and _prove me wrong_.”

Taking that as permission to put his arms around her, he did his part to keep her close and smiled. “I love you, too.”

Love and madness. Two sides of the self-same coin.

*

“I know the pain can seem like an ocean, but I’m just a word away. [...] Don’t suffer in silence.” – 'Suffer in Silence' by Susan Aglukark


	7. Original Sin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You were so preoccupied by whether or not you could, you never stopped to consider whether or not you should.

Some Time Later...

“Hi, Lucifer,” Eve said, smiling with some difficulty as the elevator door closed behind her and she stepped uneasily into the apartment.

“Eve! I’m glad you got my message! I was beginning to worry when you stopped answering my calls,” Lucifer said, happy to see she was doing well. No one, not even Maze, had heard from her in quite a while.

Eve nodded. “I was worried about me too, for a little while there, but things are going pretty good now.”

“So! What trouble have you been getting into?” Lucifer asked jovially seating himself in an armchair on the far side of the room, drink in hand. She began walking toward him with an oddly determined expression on.

Smiling and laughing slightly before she responded, Eve replied, “I’ve been going to school, actually. A lot. Got myself a job, and a little bit of a waitressing side hustle.”

“There’s no need for all that,” Lucifer said, concerned. The last thing he had wanted for the foremost woman in Creation was to have to debase herself with menial work.

“Oh yes, there is, Lucifer. There _really_ is,” she said, her voice becoming unsteady. She rested her knee on the armchair between his legs and kissed him deeply, in spite of the fact that he was leaning away and retreating as far back into the chair as he could.

Lucifer had to turn his head to get out of it. “Eve! Mmnh...! What are you...?! Stop! Listen! Please, just stop,” Lucifer said, having had to drop the drink in hand and forcibly but carefully push Eve away. Lucifer caught his breath and tried to get his bearings. “Listen, Eve. My door is always open to you and always will be. You know that. But I’m _Chloe’s_. That’s _never_ going to change. If there’s anything I can do for you, I’ll do it. Just not that.”

Eve smiled bitterly. “You know what? There is something you can do for me.”

Lucifer let go of her, waving his hands out to the side to indicate he was open to just about anything. “Name it.”

“You can _listen_ to _me_.”

Lucifer’s eyes went wider than they already were. He adjusted himself in his seat, starting to feel extraordinarily uneasy. “Very well.”

“At school? I’ve been very interested in psychology, mental health. Never realized just how much I already knew after watching humanity from afar for so long... it’s also taught me quite a bit that I hadn’t realized yet... Lucifer, in every way possible, except physically...” Eve nearly screamed what came next. “ _I was a child, Lucifer_! The ability to have sex to does not just magically make you an emotionally mature adult who’s ready for the experience.”

Lucifer recoiled at the sound and sight of her fury. Against his better judgement, he spoke. “Hold on a moment, I’ve never done anything you haven’t asked me to.”

Eve was shaking she was so angry. “When the Almighty made you, he should’ve slapped a piece safety tape on your penis that read ‘drive responsibly’ before he ever let you out of the pearly gates and set you loose on Creation. Nice and sticky stuff too, so you’d have thought about it _twice or more_ before ripping it off and taking it for a test drive. Even after all these millenia – eons! – you still don’t fucking-well get it, do you? How you affect people?”

Lucifer scoffed. “Of course, I do. I can evince someone’s deepest desires and I simply give them what they want.”

Eve stood slightly, reached back and slapped Lucifer with the kind of force that might actually have knocked out a lesser man. Leaning in menacingly, she snarled, “I swear to God Almighty, if you speak again, if you tune out or so much as _glance_ away, I will slap you again.”

Lucifer nodded. It was almost imperceptible in light of how badly he was shaking.

“By every measurable metric you are literally the best sexual partner _anyone_ will _ever_ have. And thanks to you, I am going to spend the rest of eternity looking for something I am _never_ going to find – someone who compares to you. I love you! Or at least whatever I can see of you through my own desires. But you’re never going to love me. If you were never going to love me, you should’ve left me _the fuck alone_. That _mind-altering_ night I hear you finally got to share with Chloe?” Eve paused as comprehension _finally_ showed on Lucifer’s face. He was quivering, eyes-going wide as sadness tugged the corners of his lips down and held them there. Eve snarled what she said next just inches from his from his face. “You steal that _privilege_ from the lovers the rest of us have to _settle for_.

And you know what the worst part is? After our little adventure, it didn’t take me long to ask Adam for the more of the same. My firstborn – Cain? I’ll never know who his father actually was. I know, you haven’t left a trail of babies through the ages. But you know what, I’m not just _any woman_. I’m _the first_. I was created by your Father and I’m immortal just like you. Which means you may very well have killed your own son. But we’ll never know, will we? Because you didn’t take on your part of the responsibility for _what we did_.

Back in the garden, we were both little better than children. Still, you could have done the decent thing: turned your back and respected me, given me my modesty back somehow, even if you cared nothing for yours. But no, you had to go and take me just because you _could_. But now? _Especially_ now, you should have exercised some self-restraint. Seen me for the... naïve, fresh-out-of-a-forced-marriage _child_ I was. After all these _millenia_ , you should’ve _known better_ and taken into account what was best for me, not just you. _I don’t care what I asked you for_. You’ve been around the block enough times that you should’ve had the stones to do _what was right_ , and not just _went along_ with what was convenient because you were going through a rough patch with the woman you actually love.”

“Eve, I... I don’t know what I can do for you but, _whatever_ it is, just...”

“ _Shut up and listen_ ,” Eve reiterated as loudly as she could without outright shouting. “There’s _nothing_ you can do, Lucifer. Not a single, goddamned thing you can do to fix this other than love me the way you should have, when you should have. But we both know that’s impossible. In fact, _nothing_ is exactly what you can do for me. I know you’ve got the BDSM thing down, so let’s give it one last go, shall we?” Eve laughed brokenly, still furious, as she continued to lay it on Lucifer. “The only difference here is you don’t get _any input_ on the rules of engagement. So! Here are the rules going forward: you are not to contact me. You are not to inquire about me. You are not to look for me. You aren’t so much as allowed to _speak to me_ unless I’ve spoken to you, and even then, I’d be _extraordinarily careful_ about what you say, if I were you. I don’t want to know you exist, unless I say I do. If I ever choose interact with you again, you are to _respect me_. Is that clear? Don’t speak. Just nod.”

Lucifer did. He kept his eyes fixed on Eve. He genuinely did not want to be slapped again. He was surprised the first one hadn’t broken her hand. She stood and backed away from him, a look cold as ice on her face and especially in her eyes. She wiped away the single tear that had run down her cheek. She turned away and went to her purse on the opposite side of the coffee table, chatting conversationally as she did. “You know, I’m grateful for everything you did to help me get on me my feet. I truly am. But frankly, Lucifer, it feels like blood money. Care to hazard a guess as to what this might be?” she asked, taking an envelope from her purse. Lucifer shook his head stiltedly still forcibly fixating his gaze on her and shaking badly from head to toe. A heartbreakingly distressed sound tried to escape his lips but his throat was so constricted he had no hope of getting it all out.

“Every penny you ever gave me. In full. I’ve been working full-time, going to school full-time plus waitressing on the side at a snazzy place just make it back. Damn near have to sell myself for good tips, but it’s been worth it to get shot of you. I didn’t say you were free to do as you liked yet,” she cautioned him, raising a hand, when his gaze fell away at the words ‘get shot of you’. He forced them back to her, tears falling from his eyes when he finally had to blink. “It took a long time and a lot of hard work, Lucifer. But I know who I am now. I am _free_ of you. And I’m a _damned fine_ woman now that I am. As a small piece of mercy, you’re free _now_ , too. Think of it as a courtesy from a Lady and more than you deserve.” Lucifer let his gaze fall and he sat shaking nearly uncontrollably as Eve slid the envelope to him across the coffee table.

“It’s been fun, as always, hun,” Eve said, lighthearted. She walked to a mirror near the door and adjusted herself slightly, wiping away any remaining sign of tears. She took pride in her appearance and it would be a cold day in Hell before she let him be the reason she looked out of order on the way home. It was at that moment that Chloe Decker arrived in the elevator.

“He’s all _yours_ , _sweetheart_ ,” Eve spat. She exchanged places with Chloe in the elevator and fixed her gaze to Chloe’s, not so much as blinking while the doors slid closed.

“ _What_ was that all about?” Chloe asked, utterly confused by what had just happened. Chloe crossed the room as quickly as her feet would carry her the moment she took in the expression on his face, concerned for him like she’d never been before.

Knowing he couldn’t lie, his expression twisted with misery and the only sound that came out when he tried to speak was badly mangled by regret and guilt so potent, he’d never thought it was possible to feel so much of it.

“ _Lucifer_?” Chloe asked, at a complete loss. Having no idea what had gone down, she hesitated to even touch him in the state he was in. Lucifer began to stand. As he glanced downward at his own shaking hands, a sudden shot of pain in his back so searing it forced an agonized cry out, hit him. It had him jerking backward into the armchair, lamp table and lamp so violently the furniture scattered behind him and the lamp crashed to the floor. As he retreated through the debris field his feet went out from under him. When his upper back hit the floor, the kind of cry of pain that would turn the stomach hearing it from anyone, let alone an angel that should have been invincible, scared the shit out of Chloe.

“Lucifer! What’s... what’s happening? Talk to me. Please...?” She watched in horror as he crawled backward through the door a trail of blood appearing from beneath him before long. He was reflexively reaching for his back like he was trying to pull something out of it every time a new shot of pain hit, severe enough to have him crying out and crying. Whatever it was, he no longer seemed to think he was _worthy_ of protecting her, and he was little or nothing now other than vulnerable.

The pain was so blinding Lucifer could hardly think. He made it out into fresh air, managing to get somewhat to his knees but he was still more or less seated on the floor. Reaching up with one trembling hand and arm to hold himself up with the balcony’s glass enclosure, Lucifer’s expression remained wracked by suffering and regret. He unfurled his quaking wings. The sight and smell of them made Chloe nauseous in a way she hadn’t been since... _Michael_. They weren’t just molting or singed. The whitest wings she’d ever seen on an angel were slowly turning blacker than night and _rotting_. The rot had started oozing off of them. The smell alone made her nose want to close itself off, crawl back into her face and hide. She refused to say it given the state he was in but she sure as hell thought it: _Oh, God_.

She gagged and shakily exhaled. Her eyes began to water. “Mmn... Lucifer, what just happened?” Chloe said almost whispering, before she put her nose and mouth into her elbow to try to stave off the stench.

“I...” Lucifer had to bite back a cry of pain instead of speaking. “I... I’ve done something unforgiveable to Eve and not just her...”

“What did you do? Lucifer... you have to tell me or I can’t...” Chloe started to say as she slowly moved out onto the balcony, kneeling and seating herself on one heel.

Lucifer shook his head vehemently, unable to speak. If he so much as opened his mouth, he knew it would be an expression of pain that came out. It was all he could do to take in the heaving breaths that kept him from passing out for lack of air. Her mind racing, Chloe tried to find to find the answer herself while she put nothing less than heroic effort into keeping her lunch down. With everything she knew Lucifer freely embraced doing and given that God wasn’t here to smite him personally at this very second, he hadn’t killed someone. There was likely only one thing left it could be: for whatever reason, he must be thinking he had mistreated or raped Eve. Perhaps others. It was the only thing she could think of that might inspire self-loathing this fact-acting and potent.

“Oh no. Lucifer...” Chloe said, her hand over her mouth and nose. She reached out to touch his shoulder and he reacted even more viscerally than the night she’d tried to touch the scars where his wings had been carved off. The way he recoiled reminded her of the way a dog that had been whipped so badly it fell into a state where it recoiled and cried at the prospect of _any_ touch. Chloe backed away.

“Do you want me to go...? I... yeah, I think I should go...” Chloe asked, answering her own question when Lucifer either wouldn’t or couldn’t. What could she possibly say or do if he wasn’t willing to say anything? In addition to everything else happening to him, there was a sudden ringing in Lucifer’s ears. Now, of all times, his gift had deserted him and placed itself in Chloe hands.

“No. _God_... no... I don’t want...” Lucifer answered, hanging his head, gritting his teeth and turning away from Chloe as another bolt of pain pierced his back. “ _Please_ , don’t leave,” he said through tightly clenched teeth. As little as he wanted to be seen this way there only one thing he feared more: if she left, she’d never return the way she was here now. As someone who loved him. If she left now, something between them would break and they’d never be able to repair it.

Chloe nodded, her eyes watering as much from the urge to cry as the godawful smell. She hunkered down onto her heels, her back against the glass, elbows braced against her knees just inside arms reach. She put her hands together as if praying, resting her chin on her thumbs.

“Lucifer, you have to say something. Give me something to work with,” she said, tears running down her face. She looked at him sideways as he replied.

“Eve... she... all of them, all along the down line, I’ve stolen the best nights of their lives,” Lucifer said, cringing away from her. Chloe’s eyes went wide as they could possibly go, her lips shaking as the magnitude of what was eating away at him became clear to her.

“Ohhh no... shit,” she whispered, feeling a dangerous anger rising inside her. “I mean, it’s all been consensual fun, hasn’t it?”

“Is it still consent when you’re being... _drugged_ by unfiltered desire?” Lucifer asked rhetorically, his voice unsteady.

“Whoa... oh shit. Shit... shit, shit,” Chloe said, very, very afraid that something in what he might soon say was going to destroy what they were forever. It was very probable the effect he had on others wasn’t just _like_ a drug... his voice echoed in her mind: _I’m like walking heroin. Very habit-forming. It never ends well._ Putting a hand to her forehead, Chloe smoothed the tension out of it, doing her level best to think clearly.

“Lucifer, it’s not like you were created and given an instruction manual for your power or your... self. And there certainly isn’t one for life, for other people. In a big way, we depend on others to teach us how to treat them... You’ve never encountered anyone before who could. That’s _not your fault_.”

“Not understanding that sooner _is_ ,” Lucifer replied miserably.

“You and your siblings... Lucifer, you’re nothing like anyone else. There’s no way to know what should’ve been and when.”

“That’s an excuse,” Lucifer said brokenly. Chloe smiled and nodded. Growing pains for these guys were something on another order of magnitude from puberty _entirely_.

Chloe tucked her hands under her arms and looked Lucifer’s way, unblemished affection on her face and in her voice, when the thought occurred to her. “Yeah, you’re right. Still, who could possibly grow enough, all at once, to regret everything irresponsible they did when they were young... and stupid?” Chloe asked, amused. Her tone had been very much loaded. Her ‘spectacular assets’ had served the same purpose as his mojo their fair share of times in her life. She was looking sidelong at Lucifer when her meaning occurred to him and a single laugh broke through his pain and sadness. Followed by another, and then a few more. Chloe smiled and leaned her head back against the glass.

“Lucifer, no one, not even an angel, can change the past. You’re a better person at this moment than you were in the garden. You’re a very different person now than you were when you and Eve tried to... see if there was still anything there. Changing the past _isn’t possible_. So, what can you change?” she asked, hopeful he might have the answer.

He was still shaking, but beginning to come down from the heights of his misery. “What I do from now on,” he said under his breath. She nodded, pinching her top lip between her teeth and casting a grateful glance heavenward.

Letting out a relieved breath, she whispered, “Exactly.” Smiling at him affectionately, she inconspicuously let one hand rest at her side between them without touching him yet.

“I’ve never done anything against anyone’s will, Chloe, but for all the damage I’ve done I might as well be counted among those who have. _How_ is it you don’t... think less of me? Hate me for it?” Lucifer asked, sadness now more potent than his subsiding guilt.

“You’re right, I don’t. But not because what you’ve done wasn’t irresponsible. I don’t hate you or even think less of you, because you feel exactly as awful about what you’ve done as you should...” Chloe took a moment to calm her stomach after it did a somersault at the mention of the putrid smell in the air. “I can _literally_ see that. Justice means striving toward the idea that even the worst of us can choose to be better if given the chance. Our justice system is _so flawed_ right now, that ideal has almost nothing to do with it anymore, but I still believe in the _idea_ with every _fibre_ of my being.” Chloe looked to Lucifer with tears in her eyes, smiling.

Lucifer started shaking his head. His grip on the glass became so strong he thought he’d heard it crack. He forced himself to relax his fingers. “You might be able to forgive me, but you really shouldn’t. The worst tortures in Hell are reserved for genocidal madmen, rapists and murderers, then liars – in that order. I _deserve_ to be counted among them.”

Chloe closed her eyes, wiping away tears from the corners of her eyes. “Lucifer, you’ve always respected and valued my opinion. In ways that almost all my colleagues never did, even when you disagreed with it. It’s part of why I liked working with you so much to begin with. But I have to ask you for something: if you’re going to ask me for my opinion, _accept and trust it_. I haven’t said all this ‘cause I like the sound of my own voice.” Chloe began to outright cry, right alongside the affectionate smile that insisted on sticking around. She shimmied over closer as she spoke. “This isn’t even opinion, but the same idea holds true. Fact: _you are not the person you used to be_. Also, a fact: I love _you_. Like I’ll never love anyone else, so long as my immortal soul exists.” With water and a loving light in her eyes and a smile on her face, Chloe reached underneath his rotting wing, through the oozing runoff, unflinching. She placed a comforting hand on his back between the joints of his wings.

Lucifer found himself involuntarily leaning back into her touch as if it were magnet. The warmth in her palm was almost hot enough to burn, but not quite. Chloe began to frown, worried she was causing him pain, almost backing away until Lucifer reached out for her and drew her into a sudden embrace. Shocked but relaxing into it, she placed both her palms flat against the centre of his back. Chloe watched, awestruck, as Lucifer’s wings reformed themselves, even larger and a brighter shade of white than before. Any of the black decay that so much as touched his wings, evaporated on contact. Closing her eyes and laughing, she adjusted her hold on him once his wings were back as they should be and held him properly. Though he was doing his best not to, he was still shaking and crying, from shame as much as gratitude.

One thing that wasn’t present was guilt. After all, guilt only persists when the lesson it needs to teach you hasn’t yet been learned.

Lucifer was laughing. He sounded a little like a madman to his own ears but he didn’t care. He adjusted and tightened his hold on her. In between two bouts of laughter as he tucked himself into the crook of her neck, he whispered to Chloe, “Thank you.”

*

The sticky black stuff that had fallen from his rotten wings had taken heavy duty oven cleaner to remove from the balcony floor. Two out of three of the neighbours on whose doors she’d knocked were happy to be relieved of their debt to Lucifer Morningstar for the price of all their oven cleaner, some plastic buckets, rags and a few pairs of dish gloves. The second gentleman on whose door she’d knocked had mentioned his gratitude for Lucifer introducing him to a lovely young lady from Paris by the name of Veronique. From the presence of two scantily clad women in the room behind him when he answered the door, she wasn’t sure that would be specific enough to call in the right favour.

She refused to let Lucifer be the one to deal with the mess. He was suffering enough. With the floor cleaned, furniture properly arranged again and cleaning equipment tucked out of sight, Chloe changed out of her soiled clothes and disposed of them. The sound of Lucifer’s muffled call to her from the bathroom caught her attention. Guessing he very probably needed something heavier duty to get the stuff off him, she ascended the steps to the bedroom and bathroom, a bottle of pumice-laced soap in hand. She opened the door, keeping her eyes tactfully averted. Chloe slid the orange and ultramarine bottle to Lucifer across the bathroom floor. She heard it skid to a stop after contacting the side of the tub.

“Chloe... I can’t reach or see the middle of my back properly. Would you... be willing to... I just want to be sure its all gone.”

Chloe sighed. She pinched her lips between her teeth and nodded. “Yeah. Sure.” She stepped into the bathroom, opening the door just enough to fit herself through. He didn’t look her way. With his wings still open wide it was decidedly brighter in the room than usual. Seeing him in his natural state was nothing short of breathtaking. She blinked away the wonder that had her frozen in place for a moment. She walked over and pulled a nearby bench with her. There were red marks on his back where he’d rubbed his skin nearly raw trying to get the stuff off. Like someone who would scrub themselves bloody trying to get blood off their hands. Chloe shook and bowed her head for a moment, having to find some peace inside herself before she dared touch him. If she hesitated or resented him, he would feel it. She found inside what she’d felt when his wings returned, resting a hand between and above his shoulder blades.

“Hey.”

Lucifer’s laugh was barely audible but she felt him move under her hand. “Hey.”

Without another word, Chloe set about washing away the black smears he indeed couldn’t properly see or reach in the centre of his back. The fact that his feathers helped the job along nicely certainly saved his skin from worse than it had already seen. She ran the back of her hand over one side of his wings to smooth down the plumage. It sent a visible shiver through him.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, holding her hands back away.

He looked back over his shoulder, his laugh subdued and patient. “Hardly, Chloe. Quite the opposite, in fact.”

“I see. Well, still, probably best avoided for now. You’ll have to stand for me to get the rest.”

He nodded and obliged. By the time she was down at his tailbone she was mostly working away at runoff from above. Tactfully avoiding anywhere too... erotic, she rinsed away what was left on his backside and the back of his legs.

Lucifer bowed his head, speaking his mind but no longer at the behest of anyone’s mojo. “Don’t be shy, Chloe. I’m much more worried about finding any later on. I’ll end up back in here scrubbing my skin off again.”

Chloe’s eyes went wide in shock as she cocked her head back and held her hands out to the sides and away from him. “Did you really just ask me to spread 'em at a time like this?” Chloe scoffed, starting to laugh with considerable restraint, meeting the eye looking down at her over his shoulder. “I... ehhh... yep... fine! Fine! I’ll do it. Fair warning, though: I’m going to be as clinical as possible about this.”

“That’s more than fair.” Lucifer said, amused by her reaction and grateful. He turned his gaze away from her. Chloe reached into her back pocket, taking out nitrile gloves. Worming her way into one she pulled the glove down to straighten it out letting the cuff of it snap against her wrist. Lucifer instinctively turned his backside away from her and put a hand on it, bending scared at the knees.

“I just asked you to look, not go on a spelunking expedition!” he exclaimed innocently in protest.

“That you didn’t. You did, however, deserve that,” Chloe said, an affectionate, amused smirk on her face. Lucifer’s laughter was slight but he did laugh and he was smiling. Chloe’s expression turned stoic as she put her other glove on and broke out her flashlight. She didn’t feel like having the results of the exam questioned when all was said and done. She cleared her throat once again. “All right. Lemme see,” she asked, waving him toward her. He stood himself back up and did so. He did have to bend forward slightly so that he wasn’t pressing them together the way one does when they stand up straight.

Chloe dutifully gave him a thorough check and rinse, between, under each and as far forward as was reasonable to try for. “Right. Nothing back here but an unblemished peach.” Chloe gave his right cheek a confident, playful pat before she stood, put away her flashlight and started to take off her gloves. Lucifer turned to her aghast but definitively amused. “You can put your pants back on now, Mr. Morningstar,” Chloe said, teasing, unable to keep her face straight for more than a second or so beyond that. She started to laugh, clearing her throat a couple of times as she did. She started out looking at the floor but soon enough looked up to meet his amused but clearly still-worried gaze.

“Are you sure?” he asked, half-seriously. Chloe mischievously flashed his eyes with the flashlight before she put it away.

“Yes, Lucifer. _I’m sure_ ,” she said, smiling. Lucifer turned himself, wings and all, reaching for her cheek. If a kiss was what he was looking for there was no need to make him reach for it. She stepped in and took hold of his outstretched hand, giving him a deeply loving but surprisingly chaste kiss.

“You going to stay here a while longer?” she asked, meeting his gaze.

Lucifer shook his head. “I’m just going to rinse off.”

Chloe smiled and gave him one last quick kiss before leaving the room. “‘Kay.”

*

Chloe held the phone to her ear, waiting for the call recipient to pick up on the other end. After a fair-few rings, he did. “Hey, Dan. I... uh... I know it’s still a bit hard for you to get around, but I need a favour if you have the time.”

“Yeah, sure, Chlo. I do. What’s up?” Dan asked, sounding like he’d been resting.

“There’s a midsized safe in the closet in my bedroom at my apartment. Do you mind grabbing what’s inside and bringing it to Lux? I’ll grab it from you at the curb.”

“Okay. All right. Is anyone at the apartment... or?” Dan asked, just so he’d know what he’d have to explain to who if the need arose.

“No. Trixie’s with mom tonight. I... uh... well, anyway. The code for the safe is seven eight two seven,” Chloe said, not keen to explain what was going on.

“I’m probably gonna forget that by the time I get there. Text it to me?” Dan said, sounding like he was starting to move.

“Just spell the word ‘star’ with the PIN pad. I’ll change the code the next time I’m home.”

“Okay. Got it. That’s an odd word to choose...” Dan observed, his tone somewhat irritated. Then it occurred to him: _he’s her friggin’ PIN now_...

Chloe laughed and smiled. “See you when you get here. Thanks.” She hung up the call thinking, _it’s not that strange._ She cast her gaze up toward where Lucifer, in full pajamas and robe with his hands, arms and a few spots on his legs bandaged, was setting two full bottles of tequila and a glass out on his bedside table. _Light of my life_ , she thought, fully appreciating the irony. He poured tequila into the glass like it was water and downed almost the entire thing in one go. Chloe went wide-eyed for a moment, then smiled and laughed, shaking her head. She shot a momentarily incredulous glance heavenward. If that was what he needed to help him sleep after the day he’d had, so be it.

Chloe walked into the bedroom as he was laying himself down to sleep on his side facing away from her. She walked around the far side and sat in front of him. “Need anything else?” Lucifer shook his head, not raising it from the pillow, barely meeting her gaze. Chloe nodded, smiling slightly. “All right. Good night.” She leaned in placing a kiss at the corner of his eye. Taking a swallow from the tequila that was left in his glass, she refilled it and left it where it was before wandering into the living room. It was going to be a long night. She felt an uncannily strong need to keep watch while he was in the shape he was. It very closely resembled being physically sick.

*

Chloe had stood watch through the night. Dan had delivered her spare sidearms and driven by afterward no less than four times, unasked. And she’d been out on the balcony to check in with a wave and a text message every time. The sun was up and Lucifer would likely be coming around to waking soon. She seated herself in the armchair near the window wall and put her nose into her _modern_ , _translated_ copy of The Odyssey, until she saw Lucifer stir enough that he had to be awake. He opened one eye lazily. There was no sense in trying to hide the fact that he’d woken up.

“Now why does this look familiar?” he growled, with a touch of good humour.

Chloe looked up from her book and smiled. “Close but not quite. No booze in this coffee.”

“And why the bloody hell not?” he asked, feigning irritation.

“Because you drank enough to put me under the table three times over last night.”

Lucifer chuckled and turned over to lay on his back. “Mmn. Yeah, fair point.”

“Mind if I join you? Still clothed, of course,” Chloe asked, crossing her heart and raising her right hand.

“I don’t mind at all, so long as you bring the coffee with you,” Lucifer answered, sitting himself up enough to lean on the headboard.

Chloe set down her reading and came over, coffee in hand with a slight smile on. “Any designs on going anywhere today?” she asked.

Shaking his head, Lucifer replied, “None.” Taking a long drink of the coffee in hand he set in back down on the saucer. His hands began to shake as he did. Chloe put her hand up and held the plate so he could let go of the cup.

“How do I begin to forgive myself for this?” Lucifer asked, sinking back down under the sheets. “This time, I don’t even want to.”

“I might have a few thoughts on the matter. It’s been a long night,” Chloe said, her eyelids dropping for a moment. Lucifer shimmied himself down even further, having decided to use her stomach as a pillow. Eye brows up in surprise, Chloe chuckled as Lucifer nuzzled up against her and settled in.

“Okay...” she began, letting her hands fall to rest on him wherever they came to a stop. “It’s very possible, Lucifer, that some of them will have found someone they can be just as honest with in bed, and possibly, everywhere else in life. Eve feels the way she does right now with perfectly good reason. But, finding the person she can have that kind of honesty with and confide in is her journey. I know you feel obligated to her, but she was right about how to go about it. Do as she...” Chloe’s expression briefly turned to displeasure at Eve’s actions. “ _asked_. Accept that your part in her story is done. All you can do for her now is treat her with the respect she wants from you if you ever do see her again.

You know... some of the people you’ve been with may have had no idea it was even possible to be that honest and open with someone. To be accepted completely for who they are. I’m betting you’ve helped a lot of people love _themselves_ better when the world around them was trying to convince them that it was shameful or evil. That’s a _beautiful_ thing.

There probably have been a few people who wound up feeling like Eve does. Some of them may never have found their way out of it. But, I’m willing to bet that _most_ of them did.” Chloe started to cry as she spoke. “You gave them something to aspire to, to help others find, that they would never have known was possible without you.”

Lucifer wiped away a tear of his own and laid his head back down on her stomach, going still again before he asked, “How can you possibly know that?”

“Because that’s what you’ve done for me. And I _know_ you’ve _never_ taken anyone to bed with malicious intentions,” Chloe answered, her tone nothing but loving.

A sudden twitch moved him from head to toe. Lucifer felt something inside him give. It was if a flood gate opened and let loose a wave of emotion that washed all of the rot and decay inside him away. When it had passed, everything inside him was shining again as do rocks on the beach when a wave has washed them clean and receded on a clear sunny day. He closed his eyes, forcing tears to fall and moved himself as close to her as he could, wherever he could, wrapping an arm around her ribcage.

“This would work a little better if I could be under the covers with you...” Chloe quipped. Lucifer laughed and nodded. He might still have been having difficulty smiling but that would pass soon enough.

“Cool,” Chloe said, chipper. She set about getting under the sheets, getting undressed and comfortably back to being as close as he wanted her to be. “You’ll have to forgive me if I fall asleep,” she said. “I didn’t sleep _all night_.”

Lucifer smiled and laughed. He could only imagine how bad a way he’d looked to be in if that was the case. He answered, sounding half-way to blissful sleep himself. “When you wake up, I’ll be here.”

*


	8. Yes or No

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An inventive sexual adventure for the Devil and his Detective...

Chloe turned into the towering parking garage near the light rail station. She pulled up to the west side of the sparsely populated open-air lot at the top, giving the two a view to kill for of the ocean. She turned the key back, killing the engine as she unlatched her seat belt.

As the silence drew on, Lucifer slowly turned his gaze her way, one eyebrow quizzically raised. “Deeetectiiive...?” He could see her breathing was heavier than was normal.

“Got a question for you,” Chloe said, something different in her tone. 

“I’m all ears, Detective,” Lucifer replied, sexual Spidey-senses tingling.

“Yes or no?”

“‘Yes or no’ to what?”

A mischievous grin crept onto Chloe’s face. “Pick one. Yes or no,” she replied, looking his way, eyes narrowed with an almost predatory expression on.

A moment’s consideration and... “Yes.”

The instant he said it she was up and out of her seat so quickly it took him completely by surprise. Reaching out for her, he found his grasp bypassed as she dug under the seat between his feet for the slide latch and pushed the seat back as far as it would go. Before he could get his bearings, she planted a hand beside his head on the seat back and went for the latch to release it. A short drop and a sudden stop.

Lucifer started laughing, holding his hands up and away from her. She didn’t seem particularly interested in being touched. _Where in the Hell...?_ “Oh my! Heeello there...!” he quipped when his belt buckle and fly were laid open in less in than two seconds. He braced one foot against the back of the footwell, lifting his hips the moment it seemed helpful. Carefully peeling the last layer away, she popped open the centre console, taking out a small bottle from which she downed a modest amount of a clear gel he assumed was edible.

“Good–! Mmn!” Lucifer bit down hard on what he was about to say, pressing the back of his head into the seat. The sharp breath he took in came out as wheezing laughter. Lifting his shirt tails up and out of the way with one hand, the other hit the ceiling of the car...

Chloe sat back into her seat, his hand falling away out of her hair and hanging limply by his side. Taking a drink from her juice bottle, she spread a handkerchief over his midsection for some much-needed modesty. His head had lolled to the side facing away from her. If she didn’t know better, he would’ve looked half-dead. “Still with me, over there?” she slyly asked.

Lucifer couldn’t help the laughter that came from right down in the belly and moved him from head to toe. He brought himself back around to face the roof of the cruiser, sending the question upstairs: “ _What_ have I set loose?”

“I’ll take that as a vote of confidence.” Chloe let her seat recline back enough to rest, looking out over the sun-kissed ocean while he put himself back together.

* * *

Author's Footnote

If you'd like to use social media to subscribe to every new posted chapter and other fan artwork, stay tuned via [Twitter](https://twitter.com/pandorakiin), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/pandorakiin/) or join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/7BCcsPMP7P) server I’ve recently begun to maintain! The best way to keep up with new releases is to subscribe to my [User Profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandorakiin), [Lucifer Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988668) or individual works here on AO3.

If you’d like to help others find their way to my work, one way to do so is to Bookmark the work so that it’s listed on your profile alongside other works you consider worthy of being read!

I’d also like to invite fellow authors to begin posting links for their content at and to subscribe to [r/LuciferFanFiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/LuciferFanFiction/). Let’s see if we can’t give this forum a breath of new life!

Cheers, folks! Until the next Lucifix!

‘Lightbringer’ Series Links

(In mostly Chronological Order)

Part 1: [When Hell Freezes Over](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509564/chapters/70560750)

Part 2: [The Morning After](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214489)

Part 3: [What’s Mine is Yours](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988214)

Part 4: [Leather & Lace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371656/chapters/66887485)

Part 5: [Lightbringer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/66893557)


	9. Not Something I'd Normally Brag About

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An impromtu bit of sexual mischief in the most unexpected of places...

The Wilshire Grand towered above them, defying comprehension of its full height from the perspective of anyone on the sidewalk at its feet.

“So, what’s the game, Detective?” Lucifer asked, having met up with Chloe, greeting her with a kiss, only moments ago.

She responded under her breath, “Russian money laundering.” She’d learned long ago he wasn’t particularly fond of being handed things. More of a hands-free kind of guy. So, she now memorized what she needed him to know and briefed him verbally. She had a sneaking suspicion he played it that way just because he liked hearing the sound of her voice. She was right. Chloe subtly held up her phone in front of them swiping through cropped surveillance photos as she named the most important people in the room. “The people we’re most concerned with are: Grigory Zakharov. He’s the crux of this particular cell. Ruthless but not unreasonable. Avoids bloodshed when he can. Pyotr Malakhov is his second in command. We believe he’s responsible for some of the most gruesome unsolved cases circulating the Precinct. Simeon Isayev. If it involves the money, he knows about it. Every cent these guys move falls under his scrutiny at some point. Dmitry Kulik. Top level enforcer. Keeps the ranks in line and collects body parts as the needs arise. Last but not least, this guy – drug running is a lesser facet of their operation and he oversees it. His name is Yury Vagin... _I know_. There’s an ‘a’ missing.”

Lucifer discovered the instant after the observation was out of her mouth that taking a drink just then a had been a mistake. His explosive laugh aerosolized the hard liquor in his mouth and he only just managed to turn away from her. Unable to take his flask out from in front of his face fast enough, some of it had blown back into his eyes. Laughing in tears almost immediately, he exclaimed, “Sweet merciful...! O! That is _such_ an unfortunate name for a Russian to have! And he’s an absolute paragon of Soviet masculinity to boot. Oh my...!” he said, through laughter he hadn’t been able to stop, now nearly bent over double. Wiping underneath his eyes and blinking to dilute what had landed in them, he capped his flask and put it away. He was now inclined to think twice before drinking the stiff stuff around Decker.

“By all means, take a minute for yourself. Lemme know when you get yourself sorted,” Chloe quipped, letting mild amusement show and keeping her own laughter admirably subdued. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her looking down on her partner. She’d had much the same reaction to the idea except with a glass of red wine and an unfortunate laptop screen two nights ago.

Taking a levelling breath in and holding up a thumbs up before standing up straight again, Lucifer continued, “And we’re here to... what?”

“The goal is to use your ‘ambition’ toward a Lux expansion to secure a loan, some handshakes and hopefully some fingerprints and possibly DNA samples. Your knack for sleight of hand should come in handy. These guys are ghosts. No criminal records – at least not on this continent – no legal ID and nothing to identify them with other than grainy surveillance images. We can’t risk recording devices so two-way communication only. As far as we can tell, the original surveillance systems installed when the building was built are still in place in the offices we’re headed to. Once we tap into the feed with this little beauty...” Chloe said, surrepetiously revealing a small toolkit in her pocket. “we proceed to the meeting. No arrests, no confrontations. Smooth, calm and cool. Try not to outclass Grigory. He won’t take it well. We establish your credibility and a deal. Seal it and walk out like it’s another day at the office. It would probably be best to withhold your ability to speak Russian and just keep an ear out for anything they say that might indicate we’ve been exposed as law enforcement. Also, keep an ear out for anything that might tell us something about their activities. The less time that needs to be spent on analysis the quicker they can move on viable targets.”

“So, this is what you were losing sleep over the last two weeks,” Lucifer bemoaned. He’d been hoping something surprising was coming his way after so much... research.

“What did you think it was?” Chloe asked.

“Pornography.”

Laughing but unperturbed Chloe responded, “Sorry to disappoint. Shall we?”

“Just to set the record straight, you need me to act as body armour, bodyguard, magician, recording device, translator, escape route, arm candy _and_ an oblivious moron,” Lucifer quipped.

The self-satisfied grin on her face looked all too familiar to Lucifer. “Consider the record straightened. Oh, and escort.”

“Come again?” Lucifer asked, eyes wide in shock.

“Simeon Isayev. He’s gay. Might be willing to _chat_ if you worked your magic a bit...”

Lucifer gave her a pointed look. Chloe’s poker face broke. “Relax. I’m kidding about that last one.” Lucifer sighed out his relief and rolled his eyes as his gaze turned and scaled the massive building. “ _Sort of_.” She’d even added his accent to it. He turned back to her wide eyed once again and too surprised to even manage a reproach. Chloe started laughing as she waved her hand to allay his scorn. “I am kidding. I promise.”

“Oh good. I thought you were expecting me to let him use me for my body for a second, there,” Lucifer said, half-seriously rebuking her.

“Of course not. I’m the only one who’s allowed to do that,” she replied with mock indignance.

Lucifer sighed and half smiled at her as the two began scaling the concrete and brass-inlaid steps leading up to the Wilshire’s entrances. “Yes, yes you are.”

❖

The two headed for the elevator landing where a crush of people destined for higher floors waited their turn to board.

“I’m nearly ready to add ‘elevator’ to my contributions to the day,” Lucifer whispered.

Chloe laughed but discretely gave him an elbow in the ribs, keenly aware that they were being listened to. Lucifer smiled and allowed himself an almost imperceptible laugh. He shifted closer resting a hand on the far side of her hips.

“What are you doing?”

“Acting natural.” Chloe eyes widened in reply. Next to impossible to argue with that point.

The two boarded the next elevator. Chloe found herself shifting closer and closer to him as fewer passengers exited than boarded the already crowded elevator.

“Lucifer?” Chloe asked quietly, cautiously gauging the people around them. Most were wearing earbuds of some kind.

“Yes?”

“I know that’s not _my_ sidearm...” she said under her breath, shifting a bit to stand directly in front of him, thereby shielding him from prying eyes.

“I’m not wearing mine,” he admitted uneasily.

“I don’t suppose you could...?” she asked, looking back over her shoulder, suggestively forcing her eyes wide for a second.

“I’ve been _trying_...” Lucifer hissed, letting his head fall back against the wall, shaking it.

“You’re sure?”

“Chloe, if _I_ can’t get rid of it, what does that tell you?” Lucifer looked down on her smiling affectionately, mischief plain on his face.

“I’m flattered, but well... look around, Lucifer... here, take my jacket.”

“Are you telling me to...?!” he demanded, disbelieving.

“ _No!_ Hold it in front of you!” Chloe hissed under her breath, incredulous. She started trying wriggle out of her jacket.

It was mere seconds before Lucifer spoke, dead serious, eyes wide, latching his hands to her sides between her ribcage and hips in an effort to forcibly hold her still. “For the love of Mary, _stop moving_.” Hearing the sheer panic in his voice she froze. She did her best to hold herself as perfectly still as she could from the waist down. She couldn’t help the laughter that had her upper torso twitching. The two stood near motionless in a shared panic until, by a stroke of sheer luck, there was just one person in the elevator.

Turning to the lone passenger, Lucifer brought the most courteous facet of his personality to bear. “If you’d be so kind, my good man, would you mind disembarking at the next floor?”

“I’m headed up to fifty-two. I’m not walking the rest of the...”

His patience snapped. Lucifer turned and leaned down over the shorter human being of east-Asian descent, his eyes glowing like red hot steel and bringing the devilish register of his voice to bear. “ _Get off_.”

The young man let out a horrified yelp smashing the button for the next floor, he hugged the far side of the elevator as would a stingray the ocean floor. He kept his eyes fixed on Chloe, standing still as a statue in front of Lucifer with in her hands clasped in front of her, wearing a mischievous grin her lover would be dead-to-rights proud of. The doors opened and their last hurdle frantically backed out of the car, catching his heel on the gap between the floor and the elevator, going down hard. She looked down on him amused, bidding him farewell with a waving wiggle of the fingers on one hand as the doors closed.

Luckily, no one boarded in his place. Chloe remained motionless for fear of throwing him over the cliff. She was outright cackling inside and having a hard time breathing from keeping it in.

“Dammit. Yeah... it’s not... it’s not going down. Not without...” Lucifer didn’t finish the sentence but a quick widening of the eyes and a nod of the head said enough. He closed his eyes in frustration and let the back of his head impact the wall of elevator with a little more force than could be described as comfortable.

“Unless you’ve got some magic in there somewhere that can stop elevators or time...” Chloe said, worried. He held up his hand showing an elevator service key on his keychain. How he came by it... she didn’t care. “Right-o,” she said. Chloe located the ‘STOP’ key socket on the control panel as she dug into her back pocket for her wallet. The movement elicited an amused but distressed sound from Lucifer. She produced from inside the wallet a single prophylactic. The tidiest possible place for his release. “We might have _five minutes,_ if that. Do you think...?”

She _truly_ had been designed for him to a tee. _The_ lock for his key. “Not something I’d normally brag about, but you bet your sweet backside we can.” Dropping the pop bottle in her hand, Chloe put the square packet in his other hand as she snatched the keys from him and had the elevator stopped between floors in moments. She shed the clothing on her lower half with dizzying haste. The very moment she stood up from freeing her last foot, hellfire in his fingertips melted through the thin connecting strands of her undergarments. With that stripped away she found herself picked up with startling ease and pinned with her back to the elevator wall, held in place as he joined with her, all in one inhumanly swift movement.

Leaning his cheek against the side of her head, he whispered into her ear, “I will make this up to you in _spades_ ,” as he moved against her. Chloe snuggled into the crook of his neck and allowed herself a quiet but deep, guttural response to every thrust, helping him along with a contracting grip inside her.

The sound of his restrained, stifled laughter, centred in his chest, was music in her ear. A shudder moved nearly all of him and Chloe relaxed into him, one armed draped over his shoulder and hanging limply down his back, her other hand falling away from his elbow and her feet dangling loosely well above the ground. When his breathing had evened out enough to speak again, he said a in low, seductive tone, “Very, _very_ considerate of you, but...”

“Not necessary. I know–” she replied, silenced by a kiss.

“And you...?”

“Near enough. I’ll survive,” Chloe said, smiling drowsily and laughing as she leaned her head back against the elevator wall. Lucifer let his grip on her relax, allowing her feet to touch the ground. She dropped to her knees so quickly and seamlessly he almost tried to catch her, thinking she couldn’t stand. Eyes going wide and eyebrows up when he realized her intention, he took half a step back, leaning forward with one hand against the wall, head bowed and bracing himself...

Chloe zipped up and buttoned her slacks, slipping her shoes back on in just seconds. “Your pocket square...?”

“Oh! Yes. There you are.” Lucifer said, handing it over instantly. Chloe quickly waved it over the spot on the wall where her skin had made contact, ensuring no moisture residue left any telling outlines. Centring the prophylactic and the remains of her scant undergarment on the pocket square she quickly and neatly folded it around them, tucking it in her back pocket. Looking the elevator floor over for anything stray, she retrieved her pop bottle. Lucifer put the elevator back in service, moving to stand at her side as Chloe, quite unexpectedly, took a long drink, swishing it around in her mouth like mouthwash. She threw her head back, swallowing the mouthful whole.

His sideways gaze fixed on her and focused on her bulging, working throat for a moment, he muttered, “Good grief,” laughing as she let out a long exhale. She tightened the cap on the bottle and gave it a shake before allowing the carbonation out into the air for a few moments until the foam inside threatened to spew out. She clamped it shut again.

Looking his way, she said, “Sorry. You okay?”

Still subtly laughing, Lucifer’s response began with a few nods and blinks. “Right as rain, Love. Right as bloody rain,” he nearly whispered, turning his collar down properly. He double-checked his fly and shirt tails, comfortably resting one hand in the small of her back.

The elevator door opened and Lucifer stood to the side, gentlemanly putting an arm up to keep the elevator doors open as Chloe walked out. He followed close behind her. The tiny package in her back pocket was discretely deposited into the next trash can they walked past.

❖

Zakharov’s security detail patted the two down, finding nothing more than the modest body armour Chloe was wearing. Not enough to stop a bullet but enough to take blows if needed.

“You come unarmed. I am almost insulted.”

“ _Almost_. I’m here to exchange ideas and handshakes, not bullets. Bringing a firearm would only breed mistrust,” Lucifer replied graciously, though somewhat off put by the fact that one among their number refused to make way for he and Chloe to stand side by side.

“That it could. Or it could indicate a telling lack of prescience,” Grigory shot back.

Lucifer fixed his gaze on the Russian who refused to stand out of his line of sight to their boss. “My good man, if you’d be so kind as to step aside...” Without a word the burly Russian shot Lucifer a disdainful look and remained in place. Irked, a half-smile befitting the Devil crept onto his lips. “I hadn’t planned on sodomizing anyone today, but if you insist.” He stepped forward pressing his pelvis as close to the mobster’s rear end as he had to Chloe just moments ago. The extra blood flow and warmth still hadn’t died down entirely. The man jumped like he’d had a live power cable shoved up his backside and turned to take a vicious swing at Lucifer. Lucifer caught the man’s forearm as it sailed past his head and twisted it so badly that the unfortunate soul had no choice but to move to where Lucifer moved him, ending up down on his knees, crying out in pain. Chloe moved to stand back to back with Lucifer. Nothing more than her expression made the men who'd taken a step toward them hesitate to come any closer.

He was digging his fingernails into his arm with enough force to draw blood. “Give the word and I’ll release him,” Lucifer said placidly, making the ease with which he was subduing the formidable man obvious yet deferring completely to Grigory almost instantly. After a tense few seconds the hard-lived man waved and a hand toward his compatriots and smiled. The entire complement of Russians in the room backed away and holstered their weapons. The mobster grinned, letting his subdued laughter set the tone in the room.

“I would expect nothing less from a man who has taken the Devil’s name as his own. Your lovely assistant has made these arrangements, however, scant details regarding your interests were provided. You have my attention and have piqued my curiousity...”

* * *

Author's Footnote

If you’d like to offer comments or criticisms in a much more conversational way, please follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/pandorakiin), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/pandorakiin/) or join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/7BCcsPMP7P) server I’ve recently begun to maintain! Don’t forget to <3 and retweet if enjoy the story! The best way to keep up with new releases is to subscribe to my [User Profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandorakiin), [Lucifer Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988668) or individual works here on AO3.

If you’d like to help others find their way to my work, one way to do so is to Bookmark the work so that it’s listed on your profile alongside other works you consider worthy of being read! Please feel free to share the bejeezers out of this if you think it deserves to be seen by more and more people!

I’d also like to invite fellow authors to begin posting links for their content at and to subscribe to [r/LuciferFanFiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/LuciferFanFiction/). Let’s see if we can’t give this forum a breath of new life!

Cheers, folks! Until the next Lucifix!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Wilshire Grand is one of the tallest - perhaps still the tallest - high rise buildings in LA Downtown's Financial District. Needed a place with a LOT of floors... ;)


	10. Beauty In The Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the heart of the city, I'm awake now. Feelin' the buzz, open to the night. You're the libertine: you were fearless then. When I first saw you, I knew I was done...

Chloe stepped out of the bathroom. Having finished drying her hair, she shut off the light behind her. Every light in the penthouse was out and she was taken thoroughly by surprise by the sight of Lucifer stepping up the stairs to the level of the bedroom without so much as a thread of clothing on, his wings out and tucked up close behind him. His expression unquestionably conveyed his intention. Silent as he approached her, he reached for the sole button keeping the shirt fastened around her. The fingertips of each of his hands slid the garment off her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground.

“Luc–” She found herself silenced with a kiss that jump-started her heart pounding. When their lips finally parted, she needed to catch her breath.

“Do you trust me?”

The question taking her by surprise, she replied, “Absolutely.”

“Give me your hand.” Lucifer stepped back, offering up an open hand. Chloe took it and followed his lead out onto the balcony. Allowing herself to be taken up in arms, with a scant few beats of his wings they were aloft.

“Where are we going?”

A subdued smile formed on his lips and he answered her but he kept his eyes on the world below and the air ahead. “You’ll see.”

❖

Chloe had expected to freeze en-route to wherever they were headed. As the ground passed beneath them ever more quickly, the odd pearlescent sheen over the world below became more and more apparent. The speed they were moving at should have had them both frozen. It is was almost as though they weren’t flying through the air, rather behind it or underneath it somehow. They were in a place where the normal physics of the world no longer seemed to apply. As though reality as she knew it was on the other side of a thin, translucent veil. As if they were looking on the world from the inside out. Lucifer felt the moment her body began to trust it was safe, even it was still shivering nervously. He held her a little closer and tighter now that she wasn’t so rigid. Chloe reached out like she was trying to touch the membrane that shielded them from the world outside.

“I wouldn’t do that. It only goes so far and its chilly out there,” Lucifer said gently, a half smile on and appreciative of the wonderstruck curiosity writ large on her face. Childlike, Chloe started and snapped her hand back, tucking her arm safely against her and resting her hand against his chest. She felt him chuckle gently, glancing her way before returning his eyes to the ‘road’ ahead again.

“I was expecting more questions,” Lucifer said, amused.

Chloe laughed along with him. She couldn’t do anything but take it all in. She simply shook her head in reply, wide-eyed with awe, taking in every last scrap of detail she could manage. They had gone north. And east. She could see where city lights sharply disappeared on the shoreline of massive bodies of water. Before long, they were flying much lower over land that was nearly or completely void of artificial light. Only minutes later his wings stopped working as hard as they had been and he allowed them to glide easily over the calm waters just a foot or so below. She looked up to him and he nodded. The veil between the world and them shimmered out of existence and she reached down to touch the surface of the water gently, her finger leaving a trail like a skipping stone along the surface of the water. It was warm. Wherever they were it was summer. His wingtips having carved a few trails of their own, the veil returned as Lucifer took them up and over the tops of a few forested fingers of land that enclosed the many bays along the shoreline. Only a few more had passed by when he found the landmark island he was looking for. Circling against the far shoreline of the bay before landing on an ancient, massive boulder a couple hundred metres from the rocky shoreline, he took a few steps, coming to a stop as lightly as possible.

He let her legs down, one by one. Unsteady but steady enough, she let go of his hands and turned toward the shoreline, stepping to the edge of the dry patch on top of the rock, peering down the side of the boulder they were standing on. It was a single, contiguous stone that had to be at least twelve feet tall, into the surface of which seemingly impossibly smooth ridges and basins had been worn over eons by wind and water. Basins that somehow seemed to have been made to lie in. The stone was faceted conglomerate with flecks of sparkling black, green, pink, white and clear stone. Wetting the surface gave it a remarkable translucence. The water was calm and clear as glass all the way to the bottom. The moonlight was dancing on the undulating crests of the water. She looked up toward the shoreline. The black silhouette of a pine forest loomed large over the illuminated, rocky beach. A wide stream passed underneath a highway’s bridge before becoming a side-stepping waterfall that joined up with the bay just tens of metres after the last drop-off. She had never seen so many stars in the sky.

“You seem _very_ surprised...”

Chloe let out a single laugh. “Yeah. I had guessed it would some luxurious spot on a private island or something, but... _this_...”

Lucifer laughed before he answered, “No matter how hard human beings try, they’ll never build anything more beautiful or wondrous than the world they’re consuming and destroying.”

Chloe looked back to Lucifer, wide-eyed, feeling an awe she didn’t think was possible – and then she took in the sight of him standing on the rock. Ankle deep in the water, his wings held out wide behind him, silhouetted against a black craggy island jutting up into the starry night sky where a large white moon sat low on the horizon over his shoulder. All the while, thin whisps of clouds were drifting lazily through her field of view on their way to fading from sight. Chloe took in and let out a breath that made it apparent she’d forgotten to breathe for a touch too long. A small sound came out along with it that cut through him, straight to the heart. It was awe, joy, sadness, love and heartbreak all at once.

“I know what awe looks like, but what are you _thinking_?” he asked softly.

“I think I’m looking at the single most beautiful sight and soul I’ll _ever_ see, so long as I live,” Chloe replied quietly, her eyes watering and still not breathing evenly. She wasn’t referring to the scenery.

Lucifer smiled subtly, tucking his wings away as he closed the distance between them, resting one hand around her waist the other under her chin pulling her toward a kiss. “Couldn’t say it better myself.”

When he finally allowed her to come up for air, she took one step back, then another, shoulders and chest still rising and falling with her heavier breathing. Gauging the water behind her Chloe allowed herself a daring smile before a quick, graceful reverse swan dive into the lake. Lucifer smiled and laughed, diving in beside her.

Chloe surfaced and after a fair bit more time than she expected him to be out of sight had gone by, she began to worry. As if he knew it the moment her concern changed to worry, there came a playful nip from his fingers at the back of her leg. She turned in the water and he was gone from sight again, using the larger stones on the bottom to quickly ricochet from place to place. She felt the disturbances in the water but before she could lay eyes on him, he wasn’t there anymore.

Still turning about in the water trying to locate him, Chloe started laughing. “You cheeky...” She sighed, grinning. Taunted by playful grabs and tickles she swam to a nearby boulder, perching on top, resting on her heels, one elbow on her knee and the fingertips of the other hand braced against the rock, keeping her steady. Still submerged up to a few inches below the shoulder, she slowly turned, surveying the waters around her sight or sign of him, her heart pounding away. He either didn’t need to breathe underwater or could hold his breath far longer than any human being. A long, cautious glance over her shoulder and she returned her gaze to the waters in front of her. A mistake he took advantage of, jumping out of the water and twisting to the side like a dolphin as he wrapped arms around her and carried her forward and back down into the water with him. She tried for a few moments to escape his teasing grip until he went still. Chloe frowned. Nothing was wrong... so she followed suit.

Lucifer latched one foot underneath a boulder to keep their buoyancy from pulling them up. Drawing her close again, both facing the surface, he put one hand over her face, taking a gentle hold. A familiar tingling sensation made itself at home on the skin underneath his hand. She began to need air and when she tried to surface, he wouldn’t let her go. She had a fair idea of what he intended for her to do but fighting her instincts left her shaking fearfully. His hand began to move soothingly over the skin of her stomach. There was a quick tickle and she let herself outright laugh in spite of her fears. An action that should have had her inhaling a lung-full of lake water. Her trembling died down as she took in a deep breath... then one more and another...

It took some time but her instinctive panic was soon gone and she was breathing normally. The mild tingling appeared in her eyes as well and after a few blinks she was looking through the water as if looking out through glass that gave the already sparkling environs the same subdued pearlescent sheen that coloured the world around them during the flight here.

For a moment, his other hand came up into her field of view and between his familiar, slender digits, there was now some kind of shimmering, fleshy webbing. The sight gave her a start but she held still, figuring that if she pulled away from the palm of his hand she’d be breathing in water. She could feel him laughing behind her. Slowly he maneuvered them to face the bottom and she helped the movement along as well as she could. The night was nearly perfectly clear and the moonlight nearly lit the aquascape like day.

They moved through the water, as if they had been born there, into deeper waters. A massive school of fish that looked like silver darts as they moved through and with the current. Darting here and there among patches of water grass, they came across a newborn spawning of fry. Chloe stopped moving, her wide-eyed gaze transfixed on the sight. There is nothing on Earth quite like the simple sight of new life. Lucifer took note, keeping them hovering until she felt the urge to move on.

Out of the periphery of her vision a sleek reddish-brown bullet whizzed past and she started, pulling back close against him. Lucifer slowly and smoothly brought her pelvis back to rest flush against his, the moment before the rest of the otter family followed. Heaven forbid they mistake something in the vicinity for possible prey. The crew of playful, curious creatures was sidetracked, taking hold of legs and limbs, climbing around and about the strange creatures in their path. Either sensing no danger or lacking further interest they pushed away from their momentary playground, following the leader out into the deep. One of them seemed to leave a kiss on Chloe’s cheek before mischievously darting away, returning to his pack, when Lucifer half-seriously reached out to give the cheeky little creature’s tail a joshing tug. The two continued chuckling over the serendipitous moment as they took a turn for even deeper waters.

Vegetation became sparser. The massive boulders that would have kissed the surface of the water near the shore now doubled or tripled in size and made for a glittering labyrinth. Emerging from the close quarters between two of them, Chloe and Lucifer paused as one, awed by the sight before them. A swirling vortex of fish with vibrant, blood red bodies danced in the water before their eyes. Chloe took in a shocked breath, covering the hand on her face with one of her own. From the stilted movement of her breath and body, he could tell she was in tears though in no way was that a bad thing. He could also feel her smiling. She had no idea how long she’d spent taking in the sight, but with a deep inhale and a quick nod of the head, Chloe let him know they’d seen enough and it was time to leave these creatures in peace.

Back in shallower water, the two came across a pair of ancient mudpuppies larger than any she’d seen before, snuggled up close, one tucked under the other slightly, the tail of one wrapped over the other’s, on top of a stone. Just one of them was as long as from her fingertips to her elbow. She smiled when Lucifer pulled her closer and wrapped a leg around one of hers, imitating the sight before them. The vivid red fringe on their gills was on full display, moving to and fro with the motion of the water. She placed her hand over the one of his that had a hold on her stomach and slowly moved her head back to lay against him. She reached back and rested the hand she still had free on his hip. Finding herself with enough of a purchase to do so, she pulled him closer. Not having consciously taken the hint, part of him unconsciously did. A shimmy of the hips and it passed the message along.

They returned to the shallower waters where the boulder they intended to call home for the night sat. Lucifer allowed her to drift away from him placing one hand in the centre of her back, signalling what he intended to do. Chloe nodded taking a few deep breaths before she was released and allowed to return to the surface. Lucifer turned to reach for a handhold on a nearby rock, enjoying the soothing sensation of weightless suspension in the water save for that point of anchor. When his gaze returned to the surface, hoping to take in a few voyeuristic few moments before going up himself, his breath and heart seized at the sight. Chloe was floating on the surface, a black silhouette suspended in an ocean of stars through which an arm of the galaxy cut a breath-taking cross-section. With her arms extended out from her sides... the only thing missing was the wooden cross. He forced himself to breath again, a furiously beating heart following suit. A single, awed laugh escaped him.

_My own personal Jesus Christ..._

Closing his eyes, he let the emotion welling up inside him do so. _Thank you_. The thought outright startled him. His eyes shot open as his own words came back to him:

_I don’t even know where to begin... but I want to..._

Unconsciously nodding in acceptance of this new understanding and shedding a few tears of his own, he took in a steadying breath, filing the notion away in the back of his mind for later. A smile found it’s way onto his lips in appreciation of the fact that there were more pressing concerns before him at that moment in time.

He surfaced and collected her into his arms, perching atop a smaller boulder neighbouring the larger one he was back leaning on. Latching his hands together in the small of her back, there was no space left between their midsections. Chloe let out the breath she’d unconsciously been holding while their kiss lasted and let her feet go out from under her. She let herself lay back, eyes half closed, anchored yet weightless, surrounded by a glittering world. A kiss landed on her breastbone and she started in surprise, laughing. His breathing was tickling her skin and he knew it. The touch of his lips traced its way lower. She lifted her head and looked his way, greeted by a mischievous smile and a hungry look in the eyes that sank beneath the surface of the water just moments later.

Underwater, his kisses played hopscotch around her stomach until one hand gently pressed against the inside her of her thigh. She let her leg lift up and drift out to the side, still disbelieving where she thought this was headed until... yep! _There_ he went...

She laughed at the initial sensation, muttering, ‘I was beginning to think you’d need an invitation...” To her surprise, a hand reached up from under the surface flipped her the bird and with a sarcastic little wave of the fingers slipped back under and wrapped around her leg once again. _He could still hear her?!_ She started laughing and she could feel him break away and rest his forehead against her stomach doing much the same.

“I sincerely hope that’s the idea,” she quipped back, whispering. One of her underwater cheeks received a firm, chiding pinch and Chloe leaned forward with a hand over her mouth, as much to keep in a howl of laughter as to keep from saying anything else.

Bringing her laughter under control, she reached down running her fingers through his floating hair. She resolved to let him concentrate on what he was doing and keep still. “Okay... sorry! I’m sorry,” she said, still laughing slightly. Preceded by an underwater kiss, a thumbs up surfaced and went back under after a couple seconds. Chloe took in a deep breath to quiet the bout of laughter brought on by it and relaxed, laying back on the water’s surface offering better access he took full advantage of.

Her eyes went wide for a moment as she took in a sharp breath. “Good _Lord_ in Hell...” The caress and kiss she received in return sent a shot of pleasure through her from head to toe.

Uttering a chuckle from deep in her chest she whispered, “Ooo...! You’re welcome.” Blindly reaching his way, she smiled when he took and held her hand, lightly tracing his thumbnail over the most sensitive skin on the palm of her hand...

Perching on one rounded stone on the lakebed, her leg braced against another, Chloe had an arm woven under his, that hand resting on his solar plexus. He was laid out, floating just under the surface, his head lying in the grasp of her other arm and held close against her chest and neck. Eyes closed, a wash of bliss on his face, the headrush from a bygone release still subsiding. He lay motionless in the water, needing to make no effort to keep himself afloat whatsoever. Chloe remained a steady port of harbour, moving only to keep their balance and enough to let him know she was there. He’d never allowed himself to sleep like this before. Although, it wasn’t surprising that after the exertion of getting them there and the frolicking that followed, a cat nap might be in order.

She had no idea how much time had gone by when a spasm shook him and his eyes shot open. A quick, guttural noise came from deep in his chest.

Running her fingers back through his damp hair, she whispered, “I’ve got you,” resting her cheek on his forehead. His hand drifted up to cover the one on his chest as his startled expression relaxed. He turned his head into her neck even further, obscuring his sight, the rest of him following suit and turning almost sideways in the water.

“I love you.” It was a whisper so subdued that even here, with no sign of civilization for tens, if not hundreds of miles, she almost didn’t hear it.

Allowing herself a subtle smile and laugh, she replied in kind. “I love you, too.” Gently, she nudged him out of his hiding place into a kiss. “Mmn.” If a feeling could have a taste this one would have been the sweetest thing in existence. Smiling as she broke the kiss, Chloe began to creep, spiderlike, from rock to rock, bringing Lucifer with her exactly as he lay, careful to keep his head above water. Eyes closed and wearing an amused smile, he found himself brought to rest on the sloped plane of the largest boulder, one elbow shielded by a considerate hand. Bringing himself out of the doze he was in he made the minor adjustments needed to rest comfortably. Chloe pushed away from the rock and came drifting back, laying him out straight from groin to navel as she floated in to lightly rest with the length of him between them. Minute movements against and away from him with the motion of water and the occasional twist of the hips from side to side soon had his nerves singing again with ease.

She rested one hand on his hip and touched a nerve at the joint of his leg with her thumb, sending a jolt through him and eliciting a sharp intake of breath.

Sitting up somewhat he pulled her into a kiss he interrupted to say, “Easy there, my lovely. Don’t be in such a hurry. We’ve got the place to ourselves for the night.”

Chloe let a laugh start deep in her chest before it made it out of her. That was quite possibly the understatement of the millennium. “That we do. As you wish...”

The tables having been turned, Chloe took in a deep shuddering breath, eyes and mouth opening wide as release played havoc with the muscles in her upper legs and lower back, the rest of her spine arching to the sensation. Sealing a kiss and breathing one another in while the thrill subsided the pair then carefully moved themselves to drier territory, settling into a human-sized depression in the stone.

It occurred to Chloe that he’d been preoccupied with a very specific area of her body while lovemaking, and not just tonight but for some time.

“Lucifer... are you... thinking about...”

Laughing at the fact that someone with one offspring already would hesitate to outright name the suggestion, he replied, “Don’t worry. As long as I’m more angel than human it’s not possible...”

“I’m not worried, Lucifer, and that’s not what I asked,” Chloe said, cocking her head to the side slightly, looking up from where she’d laid her head down on his chest.

“Yes... and no,” he said, confused. She half-smiled, grateful for the honesty. She could handle the translation well enough at this point. _Yes. But... something’s not right yet._ He was right. There was something missing. Or somehow not in order. And she couldn’t put her finger on what it might be...

Chloe brought herself out of the quick nap she’d taken to find Lucifer still perfectly awake and contemplative. A thought occurred to her, marring her expression with hesitation. It had her feeling like there was an untenable secret between them and she might never get another chance to let him know. Lifting herself up, she placed as kiss on his shoulder.

“Lucifer...”

“Mmm hmm?” he asked, turning his drowsy gaze to her, his focus genuinely fixing on her when he caught the expression on her face.

“D’you want to know what I was keeping a lid on?”

Lucifer’s look turned to one of confusion. She mockingly applied his accent to her repetition of his quip. “ _‘I really must know what you’re keeping under there..._ ’”

Shaking his head in disbelief, Lucifer laughed. She’d managed to surprise him between the sheets... in an elevator, and a few other _notable_ spots since they first let themselves loose. Not that there wasn’t plenty more to explore but... “I don’t already know?” Chloe shook her head. “All right, then. Tell me...”

“When we first spoke, I was done for.”

Lucifer looked at her, shocked as he’d never been before. His laughter was incredulous, bordering on injured and he reproachfully said, “You _lied!_ Then why, this whole...?”

Chloe looked away, her expression changing to sadness as she considered how to reply. She lifted a hand and let it drop back onto her hip helplessly. “Self defense.” When she looked back to him indignation had turned to regret so fast it could’ve blown her hair back. She smiled affectionately though it was still slightly bitter. “I figured it would be just as _great_ as you _fearlessly_ declared it would be. I _knew_ if I went for it then, I’d never get over it and past it. I’d spend the rest of my life... well, you know.”

Did he ever. Looking away and putting a hand over his eyes, she watched as he muscles in his cheeks and jaw worked as the emotion of that day was dredged up. He’d very nearly defiled and discarded the single most precious gift he’d ever received or would ever be given. Taking in a deep breath, the roiling emotion inside him went quiet when he remembered he done the right thing that day, every day ever since and would continue to, every day ever to come. He looked back to her, running a comforting hand over the skin of her hip and leg. “I know. I really do.”

She smiled. She closed on him and kissed him, her kiss speaking her desire louder and better than any word ever could...

Chloe woke as Lucifer stirred with the express purpose of waking her. She opened her eyes to see him pointing skyward. Chloe looked up and took in a startled breath, sitting up as if she couldn’t help be drawn closer to what she was seeing. The spectacularly coloured ribbons of an aurora danced in the sky overhead. Vivid greens, blues, purples and reddish pink.

“Are _you_ doing this?” Chloe breathed, eyes wide with enrapt awe, slowly sitting up as she took in the sight. Her heart was moving in deep pounding beats for no reason other than the sheer beauty of the sight.

Lucifer shook his head. “No! Not I. I’m just enjoying the show...” he replied with mock innocence, smiling subtly and running his gaze over her, appreciating the colour playing around on her skin. He reached up and moved her hair back off her shoulder. Chloe put the palm of her hand to the centre of her chest. Lucifer frowned.

“Is something wrong?”

“No. It just feels like there’s something right here that’s so full it’s burst and the feeling that was inside is just... everywhere...” She turned her gaze to him. “I know that sounds...”

“You’ve just had sex, several times, with a fallen angel – The Devil, no less – a thousand miles from home, in the middle of a bay at the north end of nowhere and you think what you just said sounds strange?” he asked, laughing unreservedly and shaking his head. Chloe, chuckling and smiling, rested a hand in the same place at the centre of his chest.

“Well, whadda ya know,” she quipped sarcastically. “We’ve gone nowhere.” Laughter burst out of Lucifer and he rolled toward her, curling himself around her. Raucous laughter had the lovers wrapping themselves up in a hugging, kissing, helpless, tangled heap of limbs. By the time the two stopped laughing both were in tears. Lucifer hadn’t given that moment at her desk so much as a second thought in all this time and not once, from the dawn of Creation ‘til now, had he laughed so hard, so freely and honestly, or found anything funnier. Neither had she. When she had enough control of her breathing to do so, Chloe rolled away, reaching into the water to clean the tears and runoff from her nose off her face, intermittently chuckling to herself. Laying on his side, he moved himself up close behind her so that she was seated in the crook between the top of his drawn-up legs and his stomach.

Having rinsed his face, he let his forehead drop to rest on his forearm as a single laugh burst out of him. “What in the hellfire have I gotten myself into? Have you no mercy?”

Chloe shook her head, wearing a closed, mischievous grin. “Nope. None.”

Taking in a deep breath, he did his best to speak without laughing hard enough to disturb the flow of speech. “I’ll bet that feeling is the same one that has me feeling like there’s this atmosphere of warmth around you,” he began. Chloe looked him in the eye, unwavering. Lucifer frowned momentarily. “When you spoke of redemption... I didn’t understand it at the time. The most apt description I can think of is gravity. This _anchor_... installed itself, right here,” he said, pointing to the centre of his chest. “Ever since, I’ve been either unable or unwilling to stay away. You’re this centre of gravity and that atmosphere of yours has me wanting to get every inch of me, head to toe, inside it... if I could literally get in there, I’d stay there forever...” He rested a pointed finger on the same spot on her chest she’d covered with her palm. _Dear ol’ Dad’s arrogant enough to think his Heaven is where the buck stops,_ Lucifer thought. “There... right in _there_. _That’s_ where Heaven is... Still think you’re the strange one?” he asked, laying his head on his arm, looking up at her.

The northern lights above their now-technicolour world were reflected in her big, shining eyes as she leaned in and planted a kiss on him that said, loud and clear, ‘ _Come on in_ ’.

❖

Lucifer, stepping lightly through the penthouse and up the stairs to the bedroom in the deepest of dark of night, laid the sleeping beauty in his arms out on their bed.

Leaning in, placing a butterfly kiss on her cheek, he whispered in her ear, “Flight 666 from Nowhere to L.U.X. has landed... _Welcome home_ and I hope you’ve enjoyed the night.” Chloe’s laughter began before she was even truly awake.

Inviting him into a kiss, eyes never more than half open, she replied, “I _loved_ it. Not sure I’ll believe it was real when I wake up...”

Helping her under the covers, he placed another lingering kiss on her lips. “It was as _real_ as you and I.”

❖

_Our lives are made,_

_In these small hours,_

_These little wonders,_

_These twisted turns of fate._

_Time falls away,_

_But these small hours,_

_These little wonders still remain._

❖

* * *

Author's Footnote

If you’d like to offer comments or criticisms in a much more conversational way, please follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/pandorakiin), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/pandorakiin/) or join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/7BCcsPMP7P) server I’ve recently begun to maintain! Don’t forget to <3 and retweet if enjoy the story! The best way to keep up with new releases is to subscribe to my [User Profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandorakiin), [Lucifer Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988668) or individual works here on AO3.

If you’d like to help others find their way to my work, one way to do so is to Bookmark the work so that it’s listed on your profile alongside other works you consider worthy of being read! Please feel free to share the bejeezers out of this if you think it deserves to be seen by more and more people and don’t forget to @ me!

I’d also like to invite fellow authors to begin posting links for their content at and to subscribe to [r/LuciferFanFiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/LuciferFanFiction/). Let’s see if we can’t give this forum a breath of new life!

Cheers, folks! Until the next Lucifix!

❖

‘Lightbringer’ Series Links

(In mostly Chronological Order)

Part 1: [When Hell Freezes Over](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509564/chapters/70560750)

Part 2: [The Morning After](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214489)

Part 3: [What’s Mine is Yours](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988214)

Part 4: [Leather & Lace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371656/chapters/66887485)

Part 5: [Lightbringer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/66893557)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just slotting these chapters into the timeline where they belong for those who may have seen them already ;)


	11. Really Really

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> On being a family... maybe?

Chloe opened her eyes, groggy like she couldn’t remember being since Trixie was born. Letting her head drop back onto the pillow, her outside arm fell limply over the side of the mattress. She needed next to nothing more than a drink of water right then. The moment it registered how bright the room was she shot up off the pillow again, frantically searching for her phone. Unable to find it, she crawled across the bed, cozying up beside Lucifer, who had laid there motionless since the moment she woke up. Placing a kiss on his cheekbone, she waited for him to admit she’d woken him up... _again_.

A smile slowly appeared on his lips.

“Uh huh. That’s what I thought,” she said as he opened his eyes and looked her way.

Smiling but dozy, he greeted her. “Morning.”

“Morning. Have... you... seen my phone?” she asked, still surveying the room and turning pillows over looking for it.

Taking in a deep breath and waking himself all the way up, he replied, “Mmm hmm. It’s charging on the dresser. Couldn’t get it to turn on when I tried to check it last night.” Only moments after he’d laid her down on the bed a couple hours ago, she was out cold.

Chloe let her face drop into the pillow beside him. “Shit.”

“I’m sorry, I...”

Chloe got up as quickly as she could, steadier on her feet than she expected to be. “No! Nope. Don’t apologize. Not you. At all. I was supposed to bring Trixella to school this morning and I’m late. Soooo friggin’ late...” She stood at the dresser, nothing on but her agitated worry, waiting for her phone to turn on to give her the time. She was already twenty-odd minutes late. When she shook her head and hung it, Lucifer was up and out of bed on his way to freshen up for two minutes without a word said. She dressed herself as quickly as she could, tying her unkempt hair back. She could still smell the lake water in it and it needed more attention than she had time for. While he disappeared into the closet, she took over the bathroom. Before she’d finished, her sidearm, belt and badge were placed on the counter beside her.

Rinsing her mouth out, he was out of the room by the time she looked up again. She dried off, exiting the bathroom dressed except for her footwear.

“Thank you,” she said, finding Lucifer at the safe, sidearm and badge on, threading the tail end of his belt through the buckle. He’d forgone the usual three-piece for a simple shirt and slacks, cuffs rolled back.

He looked to her and smiled, closing the safe. “Of course.” He walked over to her without a further word. Chloe cocked her head back, unsure of how to read him. Reaching for her hand, he asked, “I know I’ve overstepped already, but can I have ten more seconds?” Her smile was the only answer he needed. He brought her in close and kissed her, having no intention of stopping anytime soon, but he was, in the end, true to his word.

Chloe reached up, putting her arms over his shoulders and pulling him into a hug. “Ready?” He nodded and she let him go, the two silently heading straight to the elevator. She was putting her shoes on as the elevator door closed behind them...

Parked outside the school, Chloe exited the car, kneeling in front of Trixie and sorting out the slight state of disarray of her daughter’s jacket and backpack. She looked up to Trix, resting one of her hands over the little girl’s heart. “I’m so sorry I was late, monkey. It won’t happen again,” she said, feeling torn.

Trixie nodded. Chloe could see the wheels in her mind turning trying to figure out how to ask what she wanted to ask. “Did you guys have a sleepover?”

Blindsided, Chloe had no idea what to say. “Uh...” She looked to Lucifer panicking a bit. She was surprised when he evenly met her gaze and replied to it with a slight nod. “Yeah, Trix. We did.”

“Oh.” Trixie said, sounding hurt. “That’s why you didn’t answer your phone.” Chloe’s expression changed to sadness. They _had_ to figure out how to include her in more of their time together. The collateral damage was piling up too damned high. When she looked back up to Lucifer, he wasn’t looking their way at all. It took her slightly aback.

“Yeah... you remember how... shooting him meant I _really_ liked him?” Lucifer’s head whipped back around to face them as he scoffed, keeping silent the laughter that had him shaking in his seat. Trixie nodded.

“Well, having a sleepover with him means I really, really, really, really...” Chloe took in a breath to help her finish the sentence. “ _really_ like him,” she said, unable to help smiling.

“Really, really?” Lucifer asked, mockingly.

Chloe eyes went wide the moment before she bowed her head having to get through a solid bout of laughter. He had no clue what he’d just done. She looked back up, smiled and nodded, replying, “Yeah. Really really.”

“Can we have a movie night tonight?” Trixie asked.

Chloe shook her head. “No, hun. Lucifer has to work tonight–”

“Not anymore, I don’t. And... well... seems it’s not a guest room anymore,” he said, swallowing nervously.

Chloe looked up to him, shocked. She took in a steadying breath and nodded. “Okay. All right. A movie night it is. I’ll let your Dad know we’re picking you up after school. Sound good?”

Trixie nodded and looked between the two of them beaming, bouncing on her toes she was so happy. “I know which movie I want to watch!” Chloe nodded and hugged her daughter tightly, her eyes closed just as tight, feeling like her heart was about to break open again. She took in a breath but still didn’t think she could keep the emotion out of her voice. She met his gaze over the side of the car mouthing, “Thank you.”

His affectionate expression, subdued smile and nod was his answer. In keeping with the euphemism, he was fairly certain this little sugarplum was the biggest ‘Deckerstar’ shipper in all of Creation...

Trixie was off bounding into the school and waving one more good-bye to them as Chloe got back into the car. She buckled herself in and sat, silent and unmoving, her gaze pointed at the dashboard but it looked as if she was seeing right through it. Lucifer turned the key in the ignition and reached for the gear shift. The moment before he touched it, he took in and let out a deep breath, rolling the key back. He hesitantly rested his hand on Chloe’s and she looked away, toward the school, putting her arm up on the car door. She was shivering from head to foot and not from cold. Out of sheer fear.

They sat that way until Lucifer couldn’t stay silent anymore. “Chloe... say something.” She fixed her gaze on his hand, covering hers, and shook her head. Her eyes were wide and watering. They were two separate parts of her life. He still shied away from Trix, but not for lack of caring. He was probably as terrified of the prospect of... she was having a hard time thinking it, never mind saying it. He was likely as terrified of the prospect of being a father as she was of things going wrong somehow. That this just wasn’t the way he wanted to live his life.

He’d rested the side of his head on his knuckles, his arm propped up on the car door, never taking his eyes off of her. A slight smile showed on his face the moment the thought occurred to him. “Got to start somewhere, yeah?” A sob burst out of her and she clamped a hand over her mouth, turning her other hand over to properly take hold of his. He wasn’t talking about the conversation. Translation: _no idea what I’m doing, but, for whatever it’s worth, I’m standing on the path_. She looked skyward as tears started running down the sides of her face, the more she blinked. They were tears of sheer joy.

Lucifer’s eyes were beginning to water. “Chloe, whatever it is you want to do, do it. I’m lost.”

She kicked off her shoes, getting to her knees on her side of the seat. She closed on him with a surprising kiss she couldn’t keep sealed thanks to the sobbing wracking her body and keeping her from breathing properly. Soon enough she gave up, resting her chin on the slope between his neck and shoulder, haphazardly wrapping her arms around him and melting down onto the seat. Lucifer steadied himself, taking a deep breath in and letting it out as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in closer over his lap – hopefully into a more comfortable position. As hard as he tried to prevent it, he still found himself beginning to shake. As soon as she felt it, she pulled back, meeting his gaze. He was cradling the upper half of her like a child. If his walk down this path had to start somewhere, this was as good a place as any. One of her eyebrows went up inquisitively asking the question without the need for a word. _Are you sure about this?_ He let out a single joyful laugh, smiling down on her and nodding as he moved a few locks of hair aside from her face.

She hadn’t thought anything could possibly be putting distance between them anymore, but here it was – the very last layer of her defenses taken down. There was nothing left separating them. Not physical space, clothing, flesh and bone – nothing. In spite of both of them being fully clothed, she was lying in his arms, laid bare to the core for the very first time. A new wave of tears started but this time there was a smile on her face. He kissed her, having to occasionally make room for a spat of laughter, and the world outside them went away - the parents directing their kids eyes away, the laughter, the murmuring and ‘awwws’...

Without so much as a word uttered between them, they understood a simple truth: the quintessential playboy had retired.

❖

* * *

Author's Footnote

If you’d like to offer comments or criticisms in a much more conversational way, please follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/pandorakiin), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/pandorakiin/) or join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/7BCcsPMP7P) server I’ve recently begun to maintain! Don’t forget to <3 and retweet if enjoy the story! The best way to keep up with new releases is to subscribe to my [User Profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandorakiin), [Lucifer Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988668) or individual works here on AO3.

If you’d like to help others find their way to my work, one way to do so is to Bookmark the work so that it’s listed on your profile alongside other works you consider worthy of being read! Please feel free to share the bejeezers out of this if you think it deserves to be seen by more and more people and don’t forget to @ me!

I’d also like to invite fellow authors to begin posting links for their content at and to subscribe to [r/LuciferFanFiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/LuciferFanFiction/). Let’s see if we can’t give this forum a breath of new life!

Cheers, folks! Until the next Lucifix!

❖

‘Lightbringer’ Series Links

(In mostly Chronological Order)

Part 1: [When Hell Freezes Over](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509564/chapters/70560750)

Part 2: [The Morning After](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214489)

Part 3: [What’s Mine is Yours](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988214)

Part 4: [Leather & Lace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371656/chapters/66887485)

Part 5: [Lightbringer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/66893557)


	12. More Like Rules Than Actual Guidelines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An x-rated movie night oopsie-daisy...

Chloe set the air popper out on the counter and frowned, hearing something from out in the main area of the apartment she wasn’t expecting at that point in time. Closing the cupboard door behind her she walked back out into the living room.

“Lucifer, did you leave the tap in the bathtub ru...”

“Mommy...! Why aren’t they wearing their bathing suits?”

She and Lucifer stopped dead where they stood and looked to each other in the same instant, understanding and dread pasted across their faces. The next instant they were sprinting around the furniture between them and the sofa. Lucifer dove for the remote on the coffee table, only for it to slip out of his fingers and skitter away underneath the sectional. He was up on the couch, leaping off the far side of it and flat on his belly behind the couch looking for the remote in moments. Popping up from behind it, pointing the remote at the telly, he pressed the power button several times and to his dismay it simply would not turn off. Chloe had come to a screeching stop in front of the armchair. When it didn’t work, she nearly threw herself completely over it, yanking the power bar’s cord out of the wall socket. The whole setup went dead and Lucifer collapsed back onto the floor, breathing heavy, feet sticking out from behind the couch. Chloe sank down into the chair, looking toward the ceiling and tossing away the tail of the cord. Silence had never sounded so loud.

A devilish grin began to form on Trixie’s face and she had to put a hand over her mouth to stop the sound of her laughter coming out. Her sharp breath in broke the silence and Chloe started outright laughing.

“Trixie, hun... go finish unpacking your back pack and your sleepover bag, please,” Chloe said.

“‘Kay!” Trixie nodded and scampered off to do as she was asked, grinnin’ like a little demon the entire time.

Lucifer had begun climbing back to his feet and pushed himself upright using the back of the couch as he spoke. “Nice thinking, by the way. With the power cord.”

“This here ain’t my first rodeo, pardner,” Chloe quipped, complete with a godawful western drawl.

Chuckling as he climbed back up onto the couch rather than walk around, he dropped himself down to sit and let his breathing even out. “You’re not angry?”

“No, Lucifer. Do I _sound_ angry?” Chloe said between laughs.

“So, the uh, extracurricular entertainment... isn’t a problem?”

“Well, I guess there are circumstances where it might be but, given last night, I don’t think this is one of them,” Chloe said, bringing herself around to sitting upright in the chair to converse properly.

“And what circumstances would make it a problem?”

“Are you... watching it because you’re not getting... because I’m not...”

His expression sank the moment he realized what she was concerned about. “No! I mean in terms of all that’s out there we’re still just getting started, but I don’t think you’ve handed me a hard ‘no’ even once so far–”

“Because you’re reading me that well,” Chloe interrupted.

"And you, me," Lucifer continued, wandering back to the liquor display to clean up the spill he’d left behind. Chloe got up from the armchair, leisurely following him. “Be that as it may, it’s just... going from hosting... _parties_ that fill the apartment to just the two of us... it’s uh, it’s an adjustment. It’s also not possible for you to do more and remain a high-functioning version of the person you are – juggling the little bird, being a damned fine police officer, a good friend, an aunt and well... mine.”

“There was one hard ‘no’,” Chloe reminded him.

Nodding and partially smiling he replied, “One that’s understandable and, if I’m being honest, it’s become one of mine too.”

“What was it then? Brainstorming? Just because?”

“A mix of both. More ‘just because’ than ‘brainstorming’.”

“Like, sixty-forty, or...?”

“More like eighty-twenty.”

Chloe started laughing as she rested her backside against the counter beside Lucifer. “Thank you. For telling me the truth. And no. It’s not a problem. If this helps you fill whatever gap there is between what you want and what I can practically do, it really is okay.”

“Really really?” he asked, wearing an innocence she rarely saw on him.

Chloe couldn’t help rolling her eyes and laughing. She slid closer whilst taking one of his hands hostage, resting her temple on his shoulder after placing a quick kiss on it. “Really really. I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into, you know.” Chloe paused a few moments before said the rest of what was weighing on her mind. She looked up to meet his sideways gaze. “It would become a problem if you just weren’t interested anymore and used it as an outright substitute.”

Lucifer squeezed the hand he was holding. “I can’t imagine that ever being the case.”

“Enough people who end up there feel the same way, at the start. But, you’re right. I don’t think that’s us.” He leaned in for a kiss and Chloe had to lean herself much further back to meet it. “You can still opt out, you know,” she said, enough space between them that they could speak without lips touching but only just.

“No. No I can’t,” Lucifer said gravely.

Chloe frowned, turning to him and resting a hand on the centre of his back. “Lucifer–”

“You’re a package deal, Chloe. Simple as that. Remember I said I wanted to get as close to you as I could?”

“Yeees...”

“Well, the closest I’ve ever been was parked in front of the school this morning with you in my arms. How I feel hasn’t changed in the last... nine hours,” Lucifer said giving his watch a superfluous glance.

Smiling and chuckling, Chloe nodded. “All right. Then may I suggest a new house... guideline?”

“If it’ll keep me out of the doghouse, suggest away.”

“From now on, we treat the Blu-ray player like a handgun: always clear the chamber before handing it over to someone else. _Especially_... small humans,” she said, unable to help drawing the comparison from where he started with children and where he was at now.

“‘From now on’. So, more like rules than actual guidelines,” Lucifer retorted, a mischievous smile on.

She found herself laughing once again. Calling a spade, a spade. _Yup, this one’s mine all right,_ Chloe thought. “Maybe more like a law. As in it applies to everyone.”

“Sounds equitable and just to me,” Lucifer said, leaning in and placing a kiss on her forehead. She still smelled of the lake. “Title One, Penthouse Code of Conduct, Part One, Chapter One, Section One, Article One, Paragraph One: When passing possession of the Blu-ray player between individuals in the Penthouse, always ‘clear the chamber’ before the recipient takes possession, especially if the recipient is a _small human_.”

Chloe couldn’t help her laughter. Someone had had his nose into the U.S. Criminal Code lately. “Oh, for pity’s sake...” Chloe began, having to get it out between bits of laughter. “Article 2: change the television channel after enjoying any adult entertainment. I’ll leave the specific wording to you.”

“Got it, and thank you.”

Giving the side of his hip a nudge with her own and his hand a last squeeze, she replied, “Uh huh. If you wanna put the movie in, I’ll grab the munchkin and start the popcorn.”

“Done deal,” Lucifer said, leaning in for a quick kiss, having finished with wiping up the spill he’d left behind in their mad dash for the remote.

Chloe walked back to the kitchen calling out, “Wanna help me with the popcorn, Trix? And yes, you can _steal_ some _before_ we sit down.”

* * *

Author's Footnote

If you’d like to offer comments or criticisms in a much more conversational way, please follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/pandorakiin), [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/pandorakiin/) or join the [Discord](https://discord.gg/7BCcsPMP7P) server I’ve recently begun to maintain! Don’t forget to <3 and retweet if enjoy the story! The best way to keep up with new releases is to subscribe to my [User Profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandorakiin), [Lucifer Collection](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1988668) or individual works here on AO3.

If you’d like to help others find their way to my work, one way to do so is to Bookmark the work so that it’s listed on your profile alongside other works you consider worthy of being read! Please feel free to share the bejeezers out of this if you think it deserves to be seen by more and more people and don’t forget to @ me!

I’d also like to invite fellow authors to begin posting links for their content at and to subscribe to [r/LuciferFanFiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/LuciferFanFiction/). Let’s see if we can’t give this forum a breath of new life!

Cheers, folks! Until the next Lucifix!

❖

‘Lightbringer’ Series Links

(In mostly Chronological Order)

Part 1: [When Hell Freezes Over](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28509564/chapters/70560750)

Part 2: [The Morning After](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27214489)

Part 3: [What’s Mine is Yours](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26988214)

Part 4: [Leather & Lace](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27371656/chapters/66887485)

Part 5: [Lightbringer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27373852/chapters/66893557)


End file.
